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Lightfoot,  Joseph  Barber, 

1828-1889. 
The  Christian  ministry 


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THE 


CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 


/ 

J.  B.  LIGHTFOOT,  D.D., 

HULSEAN   PKOFESSOK    OF   DIVINITY   AND    FELLOW   OF  TRINITY 
COLLEGE,    CAMBRIDGE. 


NEW  YORK: 
THOMAS    WHITTAKER, 

2  AND  3  BIBLE  HOUSE. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 


The  kingdom  of  Christ,  not  being  a  king- 
dom of  this  world,  is  not  limited  by  the 
restrictions  which  fetter  other  societies,  pohti- 
cal  or  religions.  It  is  in  the  fullest  sense  free, 
comprehensive,  universal.  It  displays  this 
character,  not  only  in  the  acceptance  of  all 
comers  who  seek  admission,  irrespective  of 
race  or  caste  or  sex,  but  also  in  the  instruction 
and  treatment  of  those  who  are  already  its 
members.  It  has  no  sacred  days  or  seasons, 
no  special  sanctuaries,  because  every  time  and 
every  place  alike  are  holy.  Above  all,  it  has 
no  sacerdotal  system.  It  interposes  no  sacrifi- 
cial tribe  or  class  between  God  and  man,  by 
whose  intervention  alone  God  is  reconciled  and 
man  forgiven.  Each  individual  member  holds 
personal  communion  with  the  Di\ane  Head. 
To  Him  immediately  he  is  responsible,  and 


6  THE  CHRISTIAN'  MINISTRY. 

from    Him  directly  he    obtains    pardon    and 
draws  strength . 

It  is  most  important  that  we  should  keep 
this  ideal  definitely  in  view,  and  I  have  there- 
fore stated  it  as  broadly  as  possible.  Yet  the 
broad  statement,  if  allowed  to  stand  alone, 
would  suggest  a  false  impression,  or  at  least 
would  convey  onlv  a  half  truth.  It  must  be 
evident  that  no  society  of  men  could  hold  to- 
gether without  officers,  without  rules,  without 
institutions  of  any  kind  ;  and  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  not  exempt  from  this  universal  law. 
The  conception,  in  short,  is  strictly  an  ideal, 
which  we  must  ever  hold  before  our  eyes, 
which  should  insj^ire  and  interj^ret  ecclesiasti- 
cal polity,  but  w^hicli  nevertheless  cannot  super- 
sede the  necessary  wants  of  human  society, 
and,  if  crudely  and  hastily  applied,  will  lead 
only  to  signal  failure.  As  appointed  days  and 
set  places  are  indispensable  to  her  efficiency, 
so  also  the  Church  could  not  fullil  the  pur- 
poses for  which  she  exists  without  rulers  and 
teachers,  without  a  ministry  of  reconciliation — 
in  short,  without  an  order  of  men  who  may  in 
some  sense  be  designated  a  priesthood.  In 
this  respect  the  ethics  of  Christianity  j)resent 
an  analogy  to  the  politics.  Here  also  the  ideaV 
conception  and  the  actual  realization  are  in- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MimSTRY.  7 

commensurate  and  in  a  manner  contradictory. 
The  Gospel  is  contrasted  witli  tlie  Law,  as  tlie 
spirit  with  the  letter.  Its  ethical  principle  is 
not  a  code  of  positive  ordinances,  but  conform- 
ity to  a  perfect  exemplar,  incorporation  into 
a  divine  life.  The  distinction  is  most  impor- 
tant, and  eminently  fertile  in  practical  results. 
Yet  no  man  would  dare  to  live  without  laying 
down  more  or  less  definite  rules  for  his  own 
guidance,  without  yielding  obedience  to  law  in 
some  sense  ;  and  those  who  discard  or  attempt 
to  discard  all  such  aids,  are  often  farthest  from 
the  attainment  of  Christian  perfection. 

This  qualification  is  introduced  here  to  dep- 
recate any  misunderstanding  to  which  the 
opening  statement,  if  left  without  compensa- 
tion, would  fairly  be  exposed.  It  will  be  time 
to  inquire  hereafter  in  what  sense  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  may  or  may  not  be  called  a 
priesthood.  But  in  attemj^ting  to  investigate 
the  historical  development  of  this  divine  insti- 
tution, no  better  starting-j)oint  suggested  itself 
than  the  characteristic  distinction  of  Christi- 
anity, as  declared  occasionally  by  the  direct 
language  but  more  frequently  by  the  eloquent 
silence  of  the  apostolic  writings. 

For  in  this  respect  Christianity  stands  apart 
from  all  the  older  religions  of  the  world.     So 


8  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

far  at  least,  the  Mosaic  dispensation  did  not 
differ  from  tlie  religions  of  Egjj^t  or  Asia  or 
Greece.  Yet  the  sacerdotal  system  of  the  Old 
Testament  joossessed  one  important  character- 
istic, which  separated  it  from  heathen  priest- 
hoods, and  which  deserves  esj^ecial  notice. 
The  priestly  tribe  held  this  peculiar  relation 
to  God  only  as  the  representatives  of  the  Avhole 
nation.  As  delegates  of  the  people,  they 
offered  sacrifice  and  made  atonement.  The 
Avhole  community  is  regarded  as  '^  a  kingdom 
of  priests,"  "  a  holy  nation."  When  the  sons 
of  Levi  are  set  apai-t,  their  consecration  is 
distinctly  stated  to  be  due  under  the  divine 
guidance  not  to  any  inherent  sanctity  or  to 
any  caste  privilege,  but  to  an  act  of  delegation 
on  the  part  of  the  entire  people.  The  Levites 
are,  so  to  speak,  ordained  by  the  whole  con- 
gregation. "  The  children  of  Israel,"  it  is 
said,  "  shall  put  their  hands  upon  the  Levites." 
The  nation  thus  deputes  to  a  single  tribe  the 
priestly  functions  which  belong  properly  to 
itself  as  a  whole. 

The  Christian  idea,  therefore,  was  the  resti- 
tution of  this  immediate  and  direct  relation 
with  God,  which  was  partly  suspended  but 
not  abolished  by  the  appointment  of  a  sacer> 
dotal  tribe.     The  Levitical  priesthood,  like  the 


THE  CHRI8TIAN  MINISTRY.  '-> 

Mosaic  law,  had  served  its  temporary  purpose. 
The  period  of  childhood  had  passed,  and  the 
Church  of  God  was  iioav  arrived  at  mature  age. 
The  covenant  people  resumed  their  sacerdotal 
functions.  But  the  privileges  of  the  covenant 
were  no  longer  confined  to  the  hmits  of  a 
single  nation.  Every  member  of  the  human 
family  w-ik^iMentiaUii  a  member  of  the  Church, 
and,  as  such,  a  priest  of  God. 

The  influence  of  this  idea  on  the  moral 
and  spiritual  growth  of  the  individual  believer 
is  too  plain  to  require  any  comment  ;  but  its 
social  effects  may  call  for  a  passing  remark. 
It  will  hardly  be  denied,  I  think,  by  those  who 
have  studied  the  history  of  modern  civilization 
with  attention,  that  this  conception  of  the 
Christian  Church  has  been  mainly  instrumental 
in  the  emancipation  of  the  degraded  and  op- 
pressed, in  the  removal  of  artificial  barriers 
between  class  and  class,  and  in  the  diffusion  of 
a  general  philanthropy  untrammelled  by  the 
fetters  of  party  or  race  ;  in  short,  that  to  it 
mainly  must  be  attributed  the  most  important 
advantages  which  constitute  the  superiority  of 
modern  societies  over  ancient.  Consciously  or 
unconsciously,  the  idea  of  an  universal  priest- 
hood, of  the  religious  equality  of  all  men, 
which,  though  not  untaught  before,  was  first 


10  THE  CHIilSTIAN  ^n^^ISTl{T. 

embodied  in  the  Clinrch  of  Christ,  has  Avorked 
and  is  working  untold  blessings  in  political  in- 
stitutions and  in  social  life.  But  the  careful 
student  will  also  observe  that  this  idea  has 
hitherto  been  very  imperfectly  apprehended  ; 
that  throughout  the  history  of  the  Church  it 
has  been  struggling  for  recognition,  at  most 
times  discerned  in  some  of  its  aspects,  but  at 
all  times  wholly  ignored  in  others  ;  and  that 
therefore  the  actual  results  are  a  very  inade- 
quate measure  of  its  efhcacy,  if  only  it  could 
assume  due  prominence  and  wei-e  allowed  free 
scope  in  action. 

This,  then,  is  the  Christian  ideal  ;  a  holy 
season  extending  the  w^hole  year  round — a 
temple  confined  only  by  the  limits  of  the 
habitable  world — a  priesthood  coextensive  with 
the  human  race. 

Strict  loyalty  to  this  conception  was  not 
held  incompatible  with  practical  measures  of 
organization.  As  the  Cliurch  grew  in  num- 
l>ers,  as  new  and  heterogeneous  elements  were 
added,  as  the  early  fervor  of  devotion  cooled 
and  strange  forms  of  disorder  sprang  uj),  it 
became  necessary  to  provide  for  the  emergency 
by  fixed  rules  and  definite  officers.  The  com- 
munity of  goods,  by  which  the  infant  Church 
had  attempted  to  give  effect  to  the  idea  of  an 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  11 

11111  versal  brotlierliood,  must  very  soon  have 
been  abandoned  under  the  pressure  of  circum- 
stances. The  celebration  of  the  first  day  in 
the  week  at  once,  the  institution  of  annual 
.festivals  afterwards,  were  seen  to  be  necessary 
to  stimulate  and  direct  the  devotion  of  the 
believers.  The  appointment  of  definite  places 
of  meeting  in  the  earliest  days,  the  erection  of 
special  buildings  for  worship  at  a  later  date, 
were  found  indispensable  to  the  working  of 
the  Church.  But  the  apostles  never  lost 
sight  of  the  idea  in  their  teaching.  They  j)i'o- 
claiined  loudly  tliat  ''  God  dwelleth  not  in 
temples  made  by  hands. ' '  They  indignantly 
denounced  those  who  '"  observed  days  and 
months  and  seasons  and  years. '^  This  lan- 
guage is  not  satisfied  by  supposing  that  they 
condemned  only  the  temple  worship  in  the  one 
case,  that  they  reprobated  only  Jewish  sab- 
baths and  new  moons  in  the  other.  It  was 
against  the  false  principle  that  they  waged 
vrar  ;  the  j^i'ii^ciple  which  exalted  the  means 
into  an  end,  and  gave  an  absolute  intrinsic 
value  to  subordinate  aids  and  expedients. 
These  aids  and  expedients,  for  his  own  sake 
and  for  the  good  of  the  society  to  which  he 
belonged,  a  Christian  could  not  afford  to  hold 
lightly  or  neglect.     But  they  were  no  part  of 


12,  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

the  essence  of  God's  message  to  man  in  the 
Gospel  :  thej  mnst  not  be  allowed  to  obscure 
the  idea  of  Christian  worship. 

So  it  was  also  with  the  Christian  priesthood. 
For  communicating  instruction  and  for  pre- 
serving public  order,  for  conducting  religious 
worship  and  for  dispensing  social  charities,  it 
became  necessary  to  appoint  special  officers. 
But  the  j)riestlj  fimctions  and  privileges  of 
the  Christian  people  are  never  regarded  as 
ti'ansf erred  or  even  delegated  to  these  officers. 
They  are  called  stewards  or  messengers  of 
God,  servants  or  ministers  of  the  Church,  and 
the  like  ;  but  the  sacerdotal  title  is  never  once 
conferred  upon  them.  The  only  priests  under 
the  Gospel,  designated  as  such  in  the  New 
Testament,  are  the  saints,  the  members  of  the 
Christian  brotherhood. 

As  individuals,  all  Christians  are  priests 
alike.  As  members  of  a  corporation,  they 
have  their  several  and  distinct  offices.  The 
similitude  of  the  hunian  body,  where  each 
limb  or  organ  performs  its  o^^ni  functions,  and 
the  health  and  growth  of  the  whole  frame 
are  j^romoted  by  the  harmonious  but  separate 
working  of  every  j)art,  was  chosen  by  St.  Paul 
to  represent  the  progress  and  operation  of  the 
Churf'h.      In  two  passages,  written  at  two  dif- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  13 

ferent  stages  in  his  apostolic  career,  he  briefly 
Slims  uj)  tlie  oflices  in  the  Church  with  refer- 
ence to  this  image.  In  the  earher,  he  enume- 
rates ' '  first  apostles,  secondly  prophets,  thirdly 
teachers,  then  powers,  then  gifts  of  healing, 
helps,  governments,  kinds  of  tongues."  In 
the  second  passage  the  list  is  briefer  :  ''  some 
apostles,  and  some  proj^hets,  and  some  evan- 
gelists, and  some  pastors  and  teachers."  The 
earlier  enumeration  differs  chiefly  from  the 
later  in  specifying  distinctly  certain  miraculous 
powers,  this  being  required  by  the  apostle's 
argument,  which  is  directed  against  an  exagge- 
rated estimate  and  abuse  of  such  gifts.  J^either 
list  can  have  been  intended  to  be  exhaustive. 
In  both  alike  the  work  of  converting  unbe- 
lievers and  founding  congregations  holds  the 
foremost  place,  while  the  permanent  govern- 
ment and  instruction  of  the  several  churches 
is  kept  in  the  background.  This  prominence 
was  necessary  in  the  earliest  age  of  the  Gospel. 
The  apostles,  prophets,  evangelists,  all  range 
under  the  former  head.  But  the  permanent 
ministry,  though  lightly  touched  upon,  is  not 
forgotten;  for  under  the  designation  of  ' '  teach- 
ers, helps,  governments"  in  the  one  passage,  ot 
''  pastors  and  teachers"  in  the  other,  these  offi- 
cers must  be  intended.     Again  in  both  passages 


14  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

alike  it  will  he  seen  that  great  stress  is  laid  on 
the  work  of  the  Spirit.  The  faculty  of  gov- 
erning not  less  than  the  utterance  of  prophecy, 
the  gift  of  healing  not  less  than  the  gift  of 
tongues,  is  an  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  in  both  alike  there  is 
an  entire  silence  about  priestly  functions  ;  for 
the  most  exalted  office  in  the  Church,  the  high- 
est gift  of  the  Spirit,  conveyed  no  sacerdotal 
right  which  was  not  enjoyed  by  the  humblest 
member  of  the  Christian  community. 

From  the  subordinate  place,  which  it  thus 
occupies  in  the  notices  of  St.  Paul,  the  per- 
manent ministry  gradually  emerged,  as  the 
Church  assumed  a  more  settled  form,  and  the 
higher  but  temporary  offices,  such  as  the  apos- 
tolate,  fell  away.  This  j)i'ogressive  growth 
and  development  of  the  ministry,  until  it  ar- 
rived at  its  mature  and  normal  state,  it  will  be 
the  object  of  the  following  pages  to  trace. 

But  before  proceeding  further,  some  defini- 
tion of  terms  is  necessary.  On  no  subject  has 
more  serious  error  arisen  from  the  confusion 
of  language.  The  word  "  priest"  has  two  dif- 
ferent senses.  In  the  one  it  is  a  synonyme  for 
presbyter  or  elder,  and  designates  the  minister 
who  presides  over  and  instructs  a  Christian 
congregation  ;  in  the  other  it  is  equivalent  tJ" 


THE  GHBISTIAW  MINISTIIY.  15 

the  Latin  sacerdos,  the  Greek  iepev£^  or  the 
Hebrew  ]nr,  the  offerer  of  sacrifices,  wlio  also 
performs  other  mediatorial  offices  between  God 
and  man.  How  the  confusion  between  these 
two  meanings  has  affected  the  history  and 
theology  of  the  Church,  it  will  be  instructive 
to  consider  in  the  sequel.  At  present  it  is 
sufficient  to  say  that  the  word  will  be  used 
throughout  this  essay,  as  it  has  been  used 
hitherto,  in  the  latter  sense  only,  so  that 
priestly  will  be  equivalent  to  "  sacerdotal "  or 
' '  hieratic. ' '  Etymologically ,  indeed,  the  v)ther 
meaning  is  alone  correct  (for  the  words  j)riest 
and  presbyter  are  the  same)  ;  but  convenience 
will  justify  its  restriction  to  this  secondary  and 
imported  sense,  since  the  English  language 
sup23lies  no  other  rendering  of  sacerdos  or 
ispsm.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  Christian 
elder  is  meant,  the  longer  form  ^^  presbyter" 
will  be  employed  throughout. 

History  seems  to  show  decisively,  that  before 
the  middle  of  the  second  century  each  church 
or  organized  Christian  community  had  its  three 
orders  of  ministers — its  bishop,  its  presbyters, 
and  its  deacons.  On  this  point  there  cannot 
reasonably  be  two  opinions.  But  at  what  time 
and  under  what  circumstances  this  organization 


16  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

was  matured,  and  to  what  extent  our  allegiance 
is  dne  to  it  as  an  ;iutlioritative  ordinance,  are 
more  diiiicult  questions.  Some  have  recognized 
in  episcopacy  an  institution  of  divine  origin, 
absolute  and  indisj^ensable  ;  others  have  rep- 
resented it  as  destitute  of  all  aj)Ostolic  sanction 
and  authority.  Some,  again,  have  sought  for 
the  archetype  of  tlie  threefold  ministry  in  the 
Aaronic  priesthood  ;  others  in  the  arrange- 
ments of  synagogue  worship.  In  this  clamor 
of  antagonistic  opinions,  history  is  obviously 
the  sole  upright,  impartial  referee  ;  and  the 
historical  mode  of  treatment  will  therefore  be 
strictly  adhered  to  in  the  following  investiga- 
tion. The  doctrine  in  this  instance  at  all 
events  is  involved  in  the  history. 

St.  Luke's  narrative  re]3resents  the  Twelve 
Apostles  in  the  earliest  days  as  the  sole  direc- 
tors and  administrators  of  the  Church.  For 
the  financial  business  of  the  infant  community, 
not  less  than  for  its  spiritual  guidance,  they 
alone  are  responsible.  This  state  of  things 
could  not  last  long.  By  the  rapid  accession  of 
numbers,  and  still  more  by  the  admission  of 
heterogeneous  classes  into  the  Church,  the 
work  became  too  vast  and  too  various  for  them 
to  discharge  unaided.  To  reheve  them  from 
the  increasing  j)ressure,  the  inferior  and  less 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY,  17 

important  functions  passed  successively  into 
other  hands  ;  and  thus  each  grade  of  the  min- 
istry, beginning  from  the  lowest,  was  created 
in  order. 

1.  The  establishm.ent  of  the  diaconate  came 
Hist.  Complaints  had  reached  the  ears  of  the 
apostles  from  an  outlying  portion  of  the  com- 
munity. The  Hellenist  widows  had  been  over- 
looked in  the  daily  distribution  of  food  and 
alms.  To  remedy  this  neglect  a  new  office  was 
created.  Seven  men  were  appointed  whose  duty 
it  was  to  superintend  the  j^ublic  messes,  and,  as 
we  may  suppose,  to  provide  in  other  ways  for 
the  bodily  wants  of  the  helpless  poor.  Thus 
relieved,  the  Twelve  w^ere  enabled  to  devote 
themselves  without  interruption  ''  to  prayer 
and  to  the  ministry  of  the  Word. ' '  The  apos- 
tles suggested  the  creation  of  this  new  office, 
but  the  persons  were  chosen  by  popular  elec- 
tion and  afterwards  ordained  by  the  Twelve 
with  imposition  of  hands.  Though  the  com- 
plaint came  from  the  Hellenists,  it  must  not 
be  supposed  that  the  ministrations  of  the 
Seven  were  confined  to  this  class.  The  object 
in  creating  this  new  office  is  stated  to  be  not 
the  partial  but  the  entire  relief  of  the  apostles 
from  the  serving  of  tables.  Tills  being  the 
case,  the  appointment  of  Hellenists  (for  such 


18  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

they  would  appear  to  have  been  from  theit 
names)  is  a  token  of  the  hberal  and  lovin^^ 
spirit  wliich  prompted  the  Hebrew  members 
of  tlie  Cliurch  in  the  selection  of  persons  to 
fill  the  othce. 

I  have  assumed  that  the  office  thus  estab- 
lished rejDresents  the  later  diaconate  ;  for 
though  this  point  has  been  nmch  disputed,  I 
do  not  see  how  the  identity  of  the  two  can 
reasonably  be  called  in  question.  If  the  word 
deacon  does  not  occur  in  the  passage,  yet  the 
corresponding  verb  and  substantive,  diaxovs  v 
and  Siaxoria',  are  repeated  more  than  once. 
The  functions,  moreover,  are  substantially  those 
which  devolved  on  the  deacons  of  the  earliest 
ages,  and  which  still  in  theory,  though  not  alto- 
gether in  practice,  form  the  primary  duties  of 
the  office.  Again,  it  seems  clear  from  the  em- 
phasis with  w^iich  St.  Luke  dwells  on  the  new 
institution,  that  he  looks  on  the  establishment 
of  this  office,  not  as  an  isolated  incident,  but 
as  the  initiation  of  a  new  order  of  things  in 
the  Church.  It  is,  in  short,  one  of  those  rep- 
resentative facts,  of  which  the  earlier  part  of 
his  narrative  is  almost  wholly  made  up.  Last- 
ly, the  tradition  of  the  identity  of  the  two 
offices  has  been  unanimous  from  the  earliest 
times.     Irenseus,  the   first  writer  who  alludes 


THE  CHRISTIAN  AIINISTRY.  19 

to  the  appointment  of  the  Seven,  distmctl,y 
holds  them  to  have  been  deacons.  The  Ko- 
man  Churcli,  some  centuries  later,  though 
the  presbytery  had  largely  increased  mean- 
while, still  restricted  the  number  of  deacons  to 
seven,  thus  preserving  the  memory  of  the  first 
institution  of  this  office.  And  in  like  manner, 
a  canon  of  the  Council  of  JSTeocsesarea  (a.d.  315) 
enacted  that  there  should  be  no  more  than 
seven  deacons  in  any  city  however  great,  alleg- 
ing the  apostohc  model.  This  rule,  it  is  true, 
was  only  partially  observed  ;  but  the  tradition 
was  at  all  events  so  far  respected,  that  the 
creation  of  an  order  of  subdeacons  was  found 
necessary  in  order  to  remedy  the  inconvenience 
arising  from  the  limitation. 

The  narrative  in  the  Acts,  if  I  mistake  not, 
imphes  that  the  office  thus  created  was  en- 
tirely new.  Some  writers,  however,  have  ex- 
plained the  incident  as  an  extension  to  the 
Hellenists  of  an  institution  which  already  ex- 
isted among  the  Hebrew  Christians,  and  is 
implied  in  the  ''  younger  men"  mentioned  in 
an  earher  part  of  St.  Luke's  history.  This 
view  seems  not  only  to  be  groundless  in  itself, 
but  also  to  contradict  the  general  tenor  of  the 
narrative.  It  would  appear,  moreover,  that 
the  institution  was  not  merely  new  within  the 


^0  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

Christian  Cluircli,  but  novel  absolutely.  Tliere 
is  no  reason  for  connecting  it  Avith  any  proto- 
type existing  in  the  Jewish  community.  The 
narrative  offers  no  liint  that  it  was  either  a 
continuation  of  the  orcter  of  Levites  or  an 
adaptation  of  an  office  in  the  synagogue.  The 
pliilanthropic  purpose  for  which  it  was  estal)- 
lished  presents  no  direct  point  of  contact  with 
the  known  duties  of  either.  The  Levite, 
whose  function  it  was  to  keep  the  beasts  for 
slaugliter,  to  cleanse  away  the  blood  and  offal 
of  the  saerificeSj  to  serve  as  porter  at  the  tem- 
ple gates,  and  to  swell  the  chorus  of  sacred 
psalmody,  bears  no  strong  resemblance  to  the 
Christian  deacon,  wliose  ministrations  lay 
among  the  widows  and  orphans,  and  whose 
time  was  almost  wholly  spent  in  works  of 
charity.  And  again,  the  Cliazan,  or  attendant 
in  the  synagogue,  whose  duties  were  confined 
to  the  care  of  the  building  and  the  prepara- 
tion for  service,  lias  more  in  common  with  the 
modem  parisli  clerk  than  witli  the  deacon  in 
the  infant  Church  of  Christ.  It  is  therefore 
a  baseless,  thougli  a  very  common,  assumption 
that  the  Cln-istian  diaconate  was  copied  from 
the  arrangements  of  the  synagogue.  The  He- 
brew Chazan  is  not  rendered  by  deacon  in  the 
Greek  Testament  ;     but  a   different  word  is 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  21 

used  instead.  We  may  fairly  presume  tliat 
St.  Luke  dwells  at  such  lengtli  on  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  diaconate  becanse  he  regards 
it  as  a  novel  creation. 

Thus  the  work  primarily  assigned  to  the 
deacons  was  the  relief  of  the  poor.  Their  of- 
fice was  essentially  a  ' '  serving  of  tables, ' '  as 
distinguished  from  the  higher  function  of 
preaching  and  instruction.  But  partly  from 
the  circumstances  of  their  position,  partly 
from  the  personal  character  of  those  first  ap- 
pointed, the  deacons  at  once  assumed  a  promi- 
nence which  is  not  indicated  in  the  original 
creation  of  the  office.  Moving  about  freely 
among  the  poorer  brethren  and  charged  with 
the  relief  of  their  material  wants,  they  would 
find  opportunities  of  influence  which  were  de- 
nied to  the  higher  officers  of  the  Cliurch,  who 
necessarily  kept  themselves  more  aloof.  The 
devout  zeal  of  a  Stephen  or  a  Philip  would 
turn  these  opportunities  to  the  best  account  ; 
and  thus,  without  ceasing  to  be  dispensers  of 
alms,  they  became  also  ministers  of  the  Word. 
The  apostles  themselves  had  directed  that  the 
persons  chosen  should  be  not  only  ''  men  of 
honest  report, ' '  but  also  ' '  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  wisdom  ;"  and  this  careful  fore- 
sight, to  which  the  extended  influence  of  the 


22  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

diaconate  may  be  ascribed,  proved  also  tlie  se- 
curity against  its  abuse.  But  still  the  work  of 
teaching  must  be  traced  rather  to  the  capacity 
of  the  individual  officer  than  to  the  direct 
functions  of  the  office.  St.  Paul,  writing 
thii-ty  years  later,  and  stating  the  require- 
ments of  the  diaconate,  lays  the  stress  mainly 
on  those  qualifications  which  would  be  most 
important  in  persons  moving  about  from 
house  to  house,  and  intrusted  with  the  dis- 
tribution of  alms.  While  lie  requires  that 
they  shall  hold  the  mystery  of  the  faith  in  a 
pure  conscience — in  other  words,  that  they 
shall  be  sincere  believers — he  is  not  anxious, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  presbyters,  to  secure 
'^aptness  to  teach,"  but  demands  especially 
that  they  shall  be  free  from  certain  vicious 
habits,  such  as  a  love  of  gossiping,  and  a  greed 
of  paltry  gain,  into  which  they  might  easily 
fall,  from  the  nature  of  their  duties. 

From  the  mother  Church  of  Jerusalem  the 
institution  spread  to  Gentile  Christian  broth- 
erhoods. By  the  "  helps"  in  the  First  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians  (a. T).  57),  and  by  the  "  min- 
istration" in  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  (a.d. 
58),  the  diaconate  solely  or  chiefly  seems  to  be 
intended  ;  but  besides  these  incidental  allu- 
sions, the  latter  epistle  bears  more  significant 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  ^3 

testimony  to  the  general  extension  of  the  of- 
fice. The  strict  sechision  of  the  female  sex 
in  Greece  and  in  some  Oriental  countries  nec- 
essarily debarred  them  from  the  ministrations 
of  men  ;  and  to  meet  the  want  thus  felt,  it 
was  found  necessary  at  an  early  date  to  admit 
women  to  the  diaconate.  A  woman-deacon 
belonging  to  the  Church  of  Cenchrese  is  men- 
tioned in  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans.  As  time 
advances,  the  diaconate  becomes  still  more 
prominent.  In  the  Philippian  Church,  a  few 
years  later  (about  a.d.  62),  tlie  deacons  take 
their  rank  after  the  presbyters,  the  two  orders 
together  constituting  the  recognized  ministry 
of  the  Christian  society  there.  Again,  passing 
over  another  interval  of  some  years,  we  find 
St.  Paul,  in  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy 
(about  A.D.  QQ),  giving  express  directions  as  to 
the  qualifications  of  men- deacons  and  women- 
deacons  alike.  From  the  tenor  of  his  lan- 
guage, it  seems  clear  that,  in  the  Christian 
communities  of  proconsular  Asia  at  all  events, 
the  institution  was  so  common  that  ministerial 
organization  would  be  considered  incomplete 
without  it.  On  the  other  hand,  we  may,  per- 
haps, infer  from  the  instructions  which  he 
sends  about  the  same  time  to  Titus  in  Crete, 
that  he  did  not  consider  it  indispensable  ;  for 


24  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

while  lie  mentions  liaving  giv^en  direct  orders 
to  his  delegate  to  appoint  presbyters  in  every 
city,  he  is  silent  about  a  diaconate. 

2.  While  the  diaconate  was  thas  an  entirely 
new  creation,  called  forth  by  a  special  emer- 
gency, and  developed  by  the  progress  of 
events,  the  early  history  of  the  presbyterate 
was  different.  If  the  sacred  historian  dwells 
at  length  on  the  institution  of  the  lower  office 
but  is  silent  about  the  first  beginnings  of  the 
higher,  the  explanation  seems  to  be,  that  the 
latter  had  not  the  claim  of  novelty,  like  the 
former.  The  Christian  Church,  in  its  earliest 
stage,  was  regarded  by  the  body  of  the  Jewish 
people  as  nothing  more  than  a  new  sect 
springing  up  by  the  side  of  the  old.  This 
was  not  unnatural  ;  for  the  iirst  discijDles  con- 
formed to  the  religion  of  their  fathers  in  all 
essential  points,  practising  circumcision,  ob- 
serving the  sabbatlis,  and  attending  the  tem- 
ple-worshij).  The  sects  in  the  Jewish  com- 
monwealth were  not,  properly  speaking,  non- 
conformists. Tliey  only  superadded  their 
own  S23ecial  organization  to  the  established  re- 
ligion of  their  country,  which,  for  the  most 
part,  they  were  careful  to  observe.  The  insti- 
tution of  synagogues  was  flexible  enough  to 
allow  free  scope  for  wide  divergences  of  creed 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  25 

and  practice.  Different  races,  as  the  Cyreni- 
ans  and  Alexandrians  ;  different  classes  of  so- 
ciety, as  tlie  freedmen  ;  perhaps  also  different 
sects,  as  the  Saddncees  or  the  Essenes — each 
had  or  could  have  their  own  special  syna- 
gogue, where  they  might  indulge  their  peculi- 
arities without  hindrance.  As  soon  as  the 
expansion  of  the  Church  rendered  some,  or- 
ganization necessary,  it  would  form  a  ''  syna- 
gogue" of  its  own.  The  Christian  congrega- 
tions in  Palestine  lono^  continued  to  be  desia:- 
nated  by  this  name,  though  the  term  ''  ecclesia' ' 
took  its  place  from  the  very  first  in  heathen 
countries.  With  the  synagogue  itself,  they 
would  naturally,  if  not  necessarily,  adopt  the 
normal  government  of  a  synagogue,  and  a  body 
of  elders  or  presbyters  would  be  chosen  to  direct 
the  religious  worship,  and  partly  also  to  watch 
over  the  temporal  well-being  of  the  society. 

Hence  the  silence  of  St.  Luke.  When  he 
first  mentions  the  presbyters,  he  introduces 
them  without  preface,  as  though  the  institu- 
tion were  a  matter  of  course.  But  the  mo- 
ment of  their  introduction  is  significant.  I 
have  pointed  out  elsewhere,  that  the  two  per- 
secutions, of  which  St.  Stephen  and  St.  James 
were  respectively  the  chief  victims,  mark 
two  important  stages   in  the  diffusion  of  the 


'^o  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

Gospel.  Their  connection  witli  the  internal 
organization  of  the  Chnrch  is  not  less  re- 
markable. The  first  results  directly  from  the 
establishment  of  the  lowest  order  in  the  minis- 
try, the  diaconate.  To  the  second  may  prob- 
ably be  ascribed  the  adoption  of  the  next 
higher  grade,  the  presbytery.  This  later  per- 
secution was  the  signal  for  the  dispersion  of 
the  Twelve  on  a  w^der  mission.  Since  Jeru- 
salem would  no  longer  be  their  home  as  hith- 
erto, it  became  necessary  to  provide  for  the 
permanent  direction  of  the  Church  there  ;  and 
for  this  purpose  the  usual  government  of  the 
synagogue  would  be  adopted.  IS'ow,  at  all 
events,  for  the  first  time  w^e  read  of  ' '  presby 
ters"  in  connection  with  the  Christian  brother- 
hood at  Jerusalem. 

From  this  time  forward  all  official  commu- 
nications with  the  mother  Church  are  carried 
on  through  their  intervention.  To  the  pres- 
byters Barnabas  and  Saul  bear  the  alms  con- 
tributed by  the  Gentile  churches.  The  pres- 
byters are  persistently  associated  w^itli  the 
apostles,  in  convening  the  congress,  in  the 
superscription  of  the  decree,  and  in  the  gen- 
eral settlement  of  the  dispute  between  the 
Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians.  By  the  pres-^^- 
by  ters  St.  Paul  is  received  many  years  later 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  27 

on  his  last  visit  to  Jenisaleni,  and  to  them  he 
gives  an  account  of  his  missionary  hibors  and 
triumjDhs. 

But  tlie  office  was  not  confined  to  the  mother 
Church  alone.  Jewish  presbyteries  existed 
already  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  disper- 
sion, and  Christian  presbyteries  would  early 
occupy  a  not  less  wide  area.  On  their  very 
first  missionary  journey  the  Apostles  Paul  and 
Barnabas  are  desci'ibed  as  appointins^  presby- 
ters in  every  church.  The  same  rule  was 
doubtless  carried  out  in  all  the  brotherhoods 
founded  later  ;  but  it  is  mentioned  here,  and 
here  only,  because  the  mode  of  procedure  on 
this  occasion  would  suffice  as  a  type  of  the 
apostles'  dealings  elsewhere  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances. 

The  name  of  the  presbyter  then  presents  no 
difficulty.  But  what  must  be  said  of  the  term 
''bishop"?  It  has  been  shown  that  in  the 
apostolic  writings  the  two  are  only  diiferent 
designations  of  one  and  the  same  office.  How 
and  where  was  this  second  name  orio^inated  ? 

To  the  officers  of  Gentile  churches  alone  is 
the  term  applied,  as  a  synonyme  for  presbyter. 
At  Phili23pi,  in  Asia  Minor,  in  Crete,  the  pres- 
byter is  so  called.  In  the  next  generation  the 
title  is  employed  in  a  letter  written  by  the 


28  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

Greek  Clmrcli  of  Rome  to  tlie  Greek  Cliurch 
of  Corintli.  Thus  the  word  would  seem  to  be 
especialy  Ilelleuic.  Bejoud  this  we  are  left 
to  conjecture.  But  if  we  maj  assume  that  the 
directors  of  religious  and  social  clubs  among 
the  heathen  were  commonly  so  called,  it  would 
naturally  occur,  if  not  to  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians themselves,  at  all  events  to  their  heathen 
associates,  as  a  fit  designation  for  the  presiding 
members  of  the  new  society.  The  infant 
Church  of  Christ,  which  appeared  to  the  Jew 
as  a  synagogue,  would  be  regarded  by  the 
heathen  as  a  confraternity.  But  whatever  may 
have  been  the  origin  of  the  term,  it  did  not 
altogether  dispossess  the  earlier  name '^  2:)res- 
byter,"  which  still  held  its  place  asasynonyme 
even  in  Gentile  congregations.  And  when  at 
length  the  term  bishop  w^as  appro^Driated  to  a 
higher  office  in  the  Church,  the  latter  became 
again,  as  it  had  been  at  first,  the  sole  designa- 
tion of  the  Christian  elder. 

The  duties  of  the  presbyters  were  twofold. 
They  were  both  rulers  and  instructors  of  the 
congregation.  This  double  function  a23pears 
in  St.  Paul's  expression  ' '  pastors  and  teachers, ' ' 
where,  as  the  form  of  the  original  seems  to 
show,  the  two  words  describe  the  same  office^ 
under  different  aspects.     Though  government 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  29 

was  probably  tlie  first  conception  of  the  office, 
yet  the  work  of  teaching  must  liave  fallen  to 
the  j)resbyters  from  the  very  first,  and  have 
assumed  greater  prominence  as  time  went  on. 
With  the  growth  of  the  Church,  the  visits  of 
the  apostles  and  evangelists  to  any  individual 
community  must  have  become  less  and  less  fre- 
quent, so  that  the  burden  of  instruction  would 
be  gradually  transferred  from  these  missionary 
preachers  to  the  local  officers -of  the  congrega- 
tion. Hence  St.  Paul  in  two  passages,  where 
he  gives  directions  relating  to  bishops  or 
presbyters,  insists  specially  on  the  faculty  of 
teaching  as  a  qualification  for  the  position. 
Yet  even  here  this  work  seems  to  be  regarded 
rather  as  incidental  to  than  as  inherent  in  the 
ofiice.  In  the  one  epistle  he  directs  that  double 
honor  shall  be  paid  to  those  presbyters  who 
have  ruled  well,  but  especially  to  such  as  ''  hi- 
bor  in  word  and  doctrine,"  as  though  one  hold- 
ing this  ofifice  might  decline  the  work  of  in- 
struction. In  the  other,  he  closes  the  list  of 
qualifications  with  the  requirement  that  the 
bishop  (or  presbyter)  hold  fast  the  faithful  word 
in  accordance  with  the  apostolic  teaching  "  that 
he  may  be  able  both  to  exhort  in  the  healthy 
doctrine  and  to  confute  gainsayers,"  alleging 
as  a  reason  the  pernicious  activity  and  growing 


30  TEE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

numbers  of  tlie  false  teacliers.  Nevertheless, 
there  is  no  ground  for  suj^j^osing  that  the  work 
of  teaching  and  the  work  of  governing  per- 
tained to  separate  members  of  the  presbjteral 
college.  As  each  had  his  sj^ecial  gift,  so  would 
he  devote  himself  more  or  less  exclusively  to 
the  one  or  the  other  of  these  sacred  functions. 

3.  It  is  clear,  then,  that  at  the  close  of  the 
a^DOstolic  age  the  two  lower  orders  of  the 
threefold  ministry  were  iirmly  and  widely  es- 
tablished ;  but  traces  of  the  third  and  highest 
order,  the  episcopate  j^i'operly  so  called,  are 
few  and  indistinct. 

For  the  opinion  hazarded  by  Theodoret  and 
adopted  by  many  later  writers,  that  the  same 
officers  in  the  Church  who  were  first  called 
apostles  came  afterwards  to  be  designated 
bishops,  is  baseless.  If  the  two  offices  had 
been  identical,  the  substitution  of  the  one 
name  for  the  other  would  have  required  some 
explanation.  But  in  fact  the  functions  of  the 
apostle  and  the  bishop  differed  widely.  The 
apostle,  like  the  prophet  or  the  evangelist,  held 
no  local  office.  He  was  essentially,  as  his  name 
denotes,  a  missionary,  moving  about  from  place 
to  place,  founding  and  confirming  new  brother- 
hoods. The  only  ground  on  which  Theodoret^ 
builds  his  theory  is  a  false  interpretation  of  a 


TEE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  31 

passage  in  St.  Paul.     At  the  opening  of  the 
Epistle  to  Philippi  the  presbyters  (here  called 
bisli02)s)  and  deacons  are  saluted,  while  in  the 
body  of  the  letter  one  Epaphroditus  is  men- 
tioned as  an  "  apostle"  of  the  Philippians.     If 
"  apostle"  here  had  the  meaning  which  is  thus 
assigned  to  it,  all  the  three  orders  of  the  min- 
istry would  be  found  at  Philippi.     But  this 
interpretation  will  not  stand.     Tiie  true  apos- 
tle, hke  St.  Peter  or  St.  John,  bears  this  title 
as  the  messenger,  the  delegate,  of  Christ  him- 
self :  while  Epaphroditus  is  only  so  styled  as 
the  messenger  of  the  Phihppian  brotherhood  ; 
and  in  the  very  next  clause  the  expression  is 
explained  by  the  statement  that  he  carried  their 
alms  to  St.  Paul.     The  use  of  the  word  here 
has  a  parallel  in  another  passage,  where  mes- 
sengers (or  apostles)  of  the  churches  are  men- 
tioned.    It  is  not,  therefore,  to  the  apostle  tliat 
we  must  look  for  the  prototype  of  the  bishop. 
How  far,  indeed,  and  in  what  sense  the  bishop 
may  be  called  a  successor  of 'the  apostles,  will 
be  a  proper  subject  for  consideration  ;  but  the 
succession,  at  least,  does  not  consist  in  an  iden- 
tity of  office. 

The  history  of  the  name  itself  suggests  a 
different  account  of  the  origin  of  the  episco- 
pate.    If  bishop  was  at  first  used  as  a  syno- 


32  THE  GHIUSriAN  MINISTRY. 

ayme  for  presbyter,  and  afterwards  caiae  to 
designate  the  liiglier  officer  under  wliom  the 
presbyters  served,  tlie  episcopate  properly  so 
called  would  seem  to  have  been  developed  from 
the  subordinate  office.  In  other  words,  tlie 
episcopate  was  formed,  not  out  of  the  apostolic 
order  by  localization,  but  out  of  the  presbjteral 
by  elevation  ;  and  the  title,  which  originally 
was  common  to  all,  came  at  length  to  be  appro- 
priated to  the  chief  among  them. 

If  this  account  be  true,  we  might  expect  to 
lind  in  the  mother  Church  of  Jerusalem, 
which  as  the  earliest  founded  would  soonest 
rijDen  into  maturity,  the  first  traces  of  this 
developed  form  of  the  ministry.  E^or  is  this 
expectation  disappointed.  James  the  Lord's 
brother  alone,  within  the  period  compassed  by 
the  apostolic  writings,  can  claim  to  be  regard- 
ed as  a  bishop  in  the  later  and  more  special 
sense  of  the  term.  In  the  language  of  St. 
Paul  he  takes  precedence  even  of  the  earliest 
and  greatest  pit3acliers  of  the  Gospel,  St. 
Peter  and  St.  John,  where  the  affairs  of  the 
Jewish  Church  specially  are  concerned.  In 
St.  Luke's  narrative  he  appears  as  the  local 
representative  of  the  brotherhood  in  Jerusa- 
lem, presiding  at  the  congress,  whose  decisioiit» 
lie  suggests  and  whose  decree  he  appears  to 


THE  CIIUISTIAK  MimSTRT.  'V^ 

have  framed,  receiving  tlie  missionaiy  preach- 
ers as  they  revisit  the  mother  Churcli,   acting 
generally   as   the  referee   in    communications 
with  foreign  brotherhoods.   The  place  assigned 
to  him  in  the  spurious  Clementines,  where  he 
is    represented    as  supreme    arbiter  over  the 
Church  universal  in  matters  of  doctrine,  must 
be  treated  as  a  gross  exaggeration.     This  kind 
of  authority  is  nowhere  conferred  upon  him 
in  the  apostolic  writings  ;  but  his  social  and 
ecclesiastical    position,    as    it    appears  in  St. 
Luke  and  St.  Paul,  explains  how  the  exa.o-gera- 
ti(m  was  possible.     And  this  position  is  tlie 
more  remarkable  if,  as  seems  to  have  been  the 
case,  he  was  not  one  of  the  Twelve. 

On  the  other  hand,  though  especially  promi- 
nent, he  appears  in  the  Acts  as  a  member  of  a 
body.  When  St.  Peter,  after  his  escape  from 
prison,  is  about  to  leave  Jerusalem,  he  desires 
that  his  deliverance  shall  be  reported  to 
'*  James  and  the  brethren."  When  again  St. 
Paul  on  his  last  visit  to  the  Holy  City  goes  to 
see  James,  we  are  told  that  all  the  presbyters 
were  present.  If  in  some  passages  St.  James 
is  named  by  himself,  in  others  he  is  omitted 
and  the  presbyters  alone  are  mentioned. 
From  this  it  may  be  inferred  that,  thougii 
holding  a  position  superior  to  the  rest,  he  was 


34  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

still  considered  as  a  member  of  the  presbytery  ; 
that  he  was  in  fact  the  head  or  president  of 
the  college.  AVhat  power  this  presidency 
conferred,  how  far  it  was  recognized  as  an 
independent  official  position,  and  to  what  de- 
gree it  was  dne  to  the  ascendancy  of  his  per- 
sonal gifts,  are  qnestions  which  in  the  absence 
of  direct  information  can  only  be  answered  by 
conjecture.  But  his  close  relationship  with 
the  Lord,  his  rare  energy  of  character,  and  his 
rigid  sanctity  of  life,  which  won  the  respect 
even  of  the  unconverted  Jews,  would  react 
upon  his  office,  and  may  perha]^s  have  elevated 
it  to  a  level  which  was  not  deiinitely  contem- 
plated in  its  origin. 

But  while  the  episcopal  office  thus  existed 
in  the  mother  Church  of  Jerusalem  from  very 
early  days,  at  least  in  a  rudimentary  form,  the 
New  Testament  presents  no  distinct  traces  of 
such  organization  in  the  Gentile  congregations. 
The  government  of  the  Gentile  churches,  as 
there  represented,  exhibits  two  successive  stages 
of  development  tending  in  this  direction  ;  but 
the  third  stage,  in  which  episcopacy  definitely 
appears,  still  lies  beyond  the  horizon. 

(1)  We  have  first  of  all  the  apostles  them- 
selves exercising  the  superintendence  of  tlie 
churches  under  their  care,  sometimes  in  per- 


THE  miRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  35 

son  and  on  the  spot,  sometimes  at  a  distance 
by  letter  or  by  message.  The  imaginary  pie- 
tnre  drawn  by  St.  Fanl,  when  he  directs  the 
punishment  of  the  Corinthian  offender,  vividly 
represents  his  position  in  this  respect.  The 
members  of  the  church  are  gathered  together, 
the  elders,  we  may  suppose,  being  seated  apart 
on  a  dais  or  tribune  ;  he  himself,  as  president, 
directs  their  deliberations,  collects  their  votes, 
pronounces  sentence  on  the  gnilty  man.  How 
the  absence  of  the  apostolic  president  was 
actually  supplied  in  this  instance,  we  do  not 
know.  But  a  council  was  held  ;  he  did  direct 
their  verdict  "  in  spirit  though  not  in  person  ;" 
and  ''  the  majority"  condemned  the  offender. 
In  the  same  way  St.  Peter,  giving  directions 
to  the  elders,  claims  a  place  among  them.  The 
title  ' '  fellow-presbyter, ' '  which  he  applies  to 
himself,  would  doubtless  recall  to  the  memory 
of  his  readers  the  occasions  when  he  himself 
had  presided  Vv^itli  the  elders  and  guided  their 
deliberations. 

(2)  As  the  first  stage,  then,  the  apostles 
themselves  were  the  su^^erintendents  of  each 
individual  church.  But  the  wider  spread  of 
the  Gospel  would  diminish  the  frequency  of 
their  visits  and  impair  the  efficiency  of  such 
supervision.     In  the  second  stage  therefore  we 


36  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINLSTRY. 

find  them,  at  critical  seasons  and  in  important 
congregations,  delegating  some  trnstworthy 
disciple  who  should  iix  his  abode  in  a  given 
place  for  a  time  and  direct  the  affairs  of  the 
church  there.  The  Pastoral  Epistles  present 
this  second  stage  to  our  view.  It  is  the  con- 
ception of  a  later  age  whicli  represents  Tim- 
othy as  bishop  of  Ephesus  and  Titus  as  bishop 
of  Crete.  St.  Paul's  own  language  implies 
that  the  position  which  they  held  was  tem- 
porary. In  both  cases  their  term  of  office  is 
drawing  to  a  close,  when  the  aj)ostle  writes. 
But  the  conception  is  not  altogether  without 
foundation.  With  less  permanence  but  per- 
haps greater  authority,  the  position  occupied 
by  these  apostolic  delegates  nevertheless  fairly 
represents  the  functions  of  the  bishop  early  in 
the  second  century.  They  were  in  fact  the 
link  between  the  apostle  whose  superintend- 
ence was  occasional  and  general,  and  the  bishop 
who  exercised  a  permanent  supervision  over 
an  individual  congregation. 

Beyond  this  second  stage  the  notices  in  the 
apostolic  writings  do  not  carry  us.  The 
ang^els  of  the  seven  churches  indeed  are  fre- 
quently  alleged  as  an  exception.  But  neither 
does  the  name  ^ '  angel ' '  itself  suggest  such  an  ^ 
explanation,  nor  is  this  view  in  keeping  with 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  37 

tlie  liiglily  ligiirative  style  of  tins  wonderful 
book.  Its  sublime  imagery  seems  to  be  seri- 
ously impaired  by  this  interpretation.  On  the 
other  hand,  St.  John's  own  language  gives  the 
true  key  to  the  symbolism.  ' '  The  seven  stars, ' ' 
so  it  is  explained,  ' '  are  the  seven  angels  of  the 
seven  churches,  and  the  seven  candlesticks  are 
the  seven  churches. "  This  contrast  between 
the  heavenly  and  the  earthly  tires — the  star 
shining  steadily  by  its  own  inherent  eternal 
light,  and  the  lamp  flickering  and  uncertain, 
requiring  to  be  fed  with  fuel  and  tended  with 
care — cannot  be  devoid  of  meaning.  The  star 
is  the  su23rasensual  counterpart,  the  lieavenly 
representative  ;  the  lamp,  tlie  earthly  realiza- 
tion, the  outward  embodiment.  Whether  the 
angel  is  here  conceived  as  an  actual  person, 
the,  celestial  guardian,  or  only  as  a  j^ersonifica- 
tion,  the  idea  or  spirit  of  the  church,  it  is  un- 
necessary for  my  present  purpose  to  consider. 
But  wliatever  may  be  the  exact  concej^tion, 
he  is  identified  with  and  made  responsible  for 
it  to  a  degree  wholly  unsuited  to  any  Imman 
officer.  JSTothing  is  predicated  of  liim  which 
may  not  be  j)redicated  of  it.  To  him  are  im- 
puted all  its  hopes,  its  fears,  its  graces,  its 
shortcomings.  He  is  punished  with  it,  and 
he  is  rewarded  vn\^i\  it.     In  one  j)assage  espe- 


38  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINJSTRT. 

cially  tlie  language  applied  to  tlie  angel  seems 
to  exclude  the  connnon  interpretation.  In 
tlie  niessa^re  to  Tliyatira  tlie  ano-el  is  Llanied, 
Lecanse  lie  suffers  liiniself  to  he  led  astray  hy 
"  his  wife  Jezehel.- ■  In  this  image  of  Ahah^s 
idolatrous  qneen  some  dangerous  and  immoral 
teaching  must  be  personified  ;  for  it  does  vio- 
lence alike  to  the  general  tenor  and  to  the 
individual  expressions  in  the  j^assage  to  sup- 
pose that  an  actual  woman  is  meant.  Thus 
the  syml)olism  of  the  passage  is  entirely  in 
keejDing.  !Xor  again  is  this  mode  of  repre- 
sentation new.  The  ' '  princes' '  hi  the  ])rophecy 
of  Daniel  present  a  very  near  if  not  an  exact 
parallel  to  the  angels  of  the  Eevelation.  Here, 
as  elsewhere,  St.  John  seems  to  adapt  the 
imagery  of  this  earliest  apocalyptic  hook. 

Indeed,  if  with  most  recent  writers  we 
adopt  the  early  date  of  the  Apocalypse  of  St. 
John,  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  the  episcopal 
organization  should  have  been  so  mature  when 
it  was  written.  In  this  case  probably  not 
more  than  two  or  three  years  have  elapsed 
from  the  date  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  and 
this  interval  seems  quite  insufficient  to  account 
for  so  great  a  change  in  the  administration  of 
tlie  Asiatic  churches. 

As  late  therefore  as  the  year  TO  no  distinct 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MmiSTIlY.  .*>!) 

gigns  of  episcopal  governmeiit  liave  hitherto 
appeared  in  Gentile  Christendom.  Yet,  nnless 
we  have  recourse  to  a  sweeping  condemnation 
of  received  documents,  it  seems  vain  to  deny 
that  early  in  the  second  century  the  episcopal 
office  was  tinnly  and  widely  established.  Thus 
during  the  last  tln-ee  decades  of  the  first  cen- 
tury, and  consequently  during  the  lifetime  of 
the  latest  surviving  apostle,  this  change  nmst 
have  been  brought  about.  But  the  circum- 
stances under  which  it  was  eifected  are  shroud- 
ed in  darkness  ;  and  A'arious  attempts  have 
l)een  made  to  read  the  obscure  enigma.  Of 
several  solutions  oft'ered,  one  at  least  deserves 
special  notice.  If  Hothe's  view  cannot  be  ac- 
cepted as  final,  its  examination  will  at  least 
serve  to  bring  out  the  conditions  of  the  prob- 
lem ;  and  for  this  reason  I  shall  state  and  dis- 
cuss it  as  briefly  as  possible.  For  the  words 
in  which  the  theory  is  stated  I  am  myself  re- 
sponsible. 

' '  The  epoch  to  which  Ave  last  adverted  marks 
an  important  crisis  in  the  history  of  Christian- 
ity. The  Church  "was  distracted  and  dismayed 
by  the  growing  dissensions  between  the  Jew- 
ish and  Gentile  brethren,  and  by  the  menacing 
apparition  of  Gnostic  heresy.  So  long  as  its 
three   most    prominent    leaders    Avere  living, 


40  TEE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRT. 

there  liad  been  some  security  against  the  ex- 
travagance of  parties,  some  guarantee  of  liar- 
nionious  combination  among  diverse  churches. 
But  St.  Peter,  St.  Paul,  and  St.  James  were 
carried  away  by  death  ahnost  at  the  same  time 
and  in  the  face  of  this  great  emergency.  An- 
other Wow,  too,  liad  fallen  :  the  long-delayed 
judgment  of  God  on  the  once  Holy  City  was 
delayed  no  more.  With  the  overthrow  of  Je- 
rusalem the  visible  centre  of  the  Church  was 
removed.  The  kevstone  of  the  fabric  Avas 
withdrawn,  and  the  whole  edifice  threatened 
Avitli  ruin.  There  was  a  crying  need  for  some 
organization  wdiich  should  cement  together  the 
diverse  elements  of  Christian  society  and  ^yq- 
se'rve  it  from  disintes-ration. 

' '  Out  of  this  need  the  Catholic  Church  arose. 
Christendom  had  hitherto  existed  as  a  number 
of  distinct  isolated  congregations,  drawn  in 
the  same  direction  by  a  common  faith  and 
common  sympathies,  accidentally  linked  one 
with  another  by  the  personal  influence  and 
apostolic  authority  of  their  common  teachers, 
but  not  bound  together  in  a  harmonious  whole 
by  any  permanent  extei'nal  organization.  ISTow 
at  length  this  great  result  was  brought  about. 
The  magnitude  of  the  change  effected  during 
this  period  may  be  measured  by  the  difference 


THE  CHBISTTAN  MINISTRY.  41 

in  the  constitution  and  conception  of  the 
Christian  Chnrch  as  presented  in  the  Pastoral 
Epistles  of  St.  Panl  and  the  letters  of  St.  Ig- 
naflus  respectively. 

''  By  whom  then  was  the  new  constitntion 
organized  ?  To  this  question  only  one  a:iswer 
can  be  giv^en.  This  great  work  mnst  be  as- 
cribed to  the  surviving  apostles.  St.  John 
especially,  who  built  up  the  speculative  the- 
ology of  the  Church,  was  mainly  instrumental 
in  completing  its  external  constitution  also  ; 
for  Asia  Minor  was  the  centre  from  which  the 
new  movement  spread.  St.  John,  however, 
was  not  the  only  apostle  or  early  disciple  who 
lived  in  this  province.  St.  Phihp  is  known 
to  have  settled  in  Ilierapolis.  St.  Andrew 
also  seems  to  have  dwelt  in  these  parts.  The 
silence  of  history  clearly  proclaixns  the  fact 
which  the  voice  of  history  but  faintly  suggests. 
If  we  hear  nothing  more  of  the  apostles'  mis- 
sionary labors,  it  is  because  they  had  organ- 
ized an  united  Church,  to  which  they  had 
transferred  the  work  of  evangelization. 

''  Of  Buch  a  combined  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  apostles,  resulting  in  a  definite  ecclesiasti- 
cal polity,  in  an  united  Catholic  Church,  no 
direct  account  is  preserved,  but  incidental  no- 
tices are  not  wanting  ;  and  in  the  general  pan- 


42  TUB  CllltlSTIAN  MINISTRT, 

city  of  iiifonnation  respecting  the  whole  period 
more  than  this'  was  not  to  be  expected. 

"  (1)  Ensebius  relates  that  after  the  martyr- 
dom of  St.  James  and  the  fall  of  JerusalAn, 
the  remaining  apostles  and  personal  discij)les 
of  the  Lord,  with  his  surviving  relations,  met 
together  and  after  consultation  unanimously 
appointed  Symeon,  the  son  of  Clopas,  to  the 
vacant  see.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted,  that 
Eusebius  in  this  passage  quotes  from  the  ear- 
lier historian  Hegesippus,  from  whom  he  has 
derived  the  other  incidents  in  the  lives  of 
James  and  Symeon  ;  and  we  may  well  believe 
that  this  council  discussed  larger  cpiestions 
than  the  appointment  of  a  single  bisho]),  and 
that  the  constitution  and  prospects  of  the 
Church  generally  came  under  deliberation. 
It  may  have  been  on  this  occasion  that  the 
surviving  aj)Ostles  partitioned  out  the  world 
among  them,  and  '  Asia  was  assigned  to  John.' 

"  (2)  A  fragment  of  Ireneeus  points  in  the 
same  direction.  Writing  of  the  holy  euchar- 
ist  he  says,  ^  They  who  have  paid  attention  to 
the  second  ordinances  of  the  apostles  know 
that  the  Lord  appointed  a  new  offering  in  the 
new  covenant. '  By  these  '  second  ordinances  ' 
must  be  understood  some  later  decrees  or  in- 
junctions than  those  contained  in  the  apostolic 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  43 

epistles  ;  and  these  would  naturally  be  framed 
and  promulgated  by  such  a  council  as  the  no- 
tice of  Eusebius  suggests. 

'"  (3)  To  the  same  effect  St.  Clement  of  Kome 
writes,  that  the  apostles,  having  appointed  el- 
ders in  every  church,  and  foreseeing  the  dis- 
putes which  w^ould  arise,  '  afterwards  added  a 
codicil  (supplementary  direction)  that  if  they 
should  fall  asleep,  other  approved  men  should 
succeed  to  their  office. '  Here  the  pronouns 
'  they, '  '  their, '  must  refer,  not  to  the  first  ap- 
pointed presbyters,  ]}ut  to  the  apostles  them- 
selves. Thus  interpreted,  the  passage  contains 
a  distinct  notice  of  the  institution  of  bishops 
as  successors  of  the  apostles  ;  while  in  the 
word  '  afterwards  '  is  involved  an  allusion  to 
the  later  council  to  which  the  '  second  ordi- 
nances '  of  Irenaeus  also  refer. 

' '  These  notices  seem  to  justify  the  conclusion 
that  immediately  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  a 
council  of  the  apostles  and  first  teachers  of 
the  Gospel  was  held  to  dehberate  on  the  crisis, 
and  to  frame  measures' for  the  well-being  of 
the  Church.  The  centre  of  the  system  then 
organized  was  episcopacy,  w^hich  at  once  se- 
cured tlie  compact  and  harmonious  working 
of  each  individual  congregation,  and  as  the 
link  of  comnumication  betu^een  separate  broth- 


44  THE  ClIlilSTlAN  MINISTRY. 

erlioods,  formed  the  wliole  into  one  undivided 
Catholic  Churcli.  Kecommended  by  this  high 
authority,  the  new  constitntion  was  immedi- 
ately and  generally  adopted." 

This  theory,  which  is  maintained  with  much 
ability  and  vigor,  attracted  considerable  notice, 
as  being  a  new  defence  of  episcopacy  advanced 
by  a  member  of  a  Presbyterian  church.  On 
the  other  hand,  its  intrinsic  value  seems  to 
have  been  unduly  de23reciated  ;  for,  if  it  fails 
to  give  a  satisfactory  solution,  it  has  at  least 
the  merit  of  stating  the  conditions  of  the  prob- 
lem with  great  distinctness,  and  of  pointing 
out  the  direction  to  be  followed.  On  this  ac- 
count it  seemed  worthy  of  attention. 

It  must  i!ndeed  be  confessed  that  the  histori- 
cal notices  will  not  bear  the  weight  of  the  in- 
ference built  upon  them.  (1)  The  account  of 
TIegesippus  (for  to  Hegesippus  the  statement 
in  Eusebius  may  faii'ly  be  ascribed)  confines 
the  object  of  this  gathering  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  successor  to  St.  James.  If  its  delib- 
erations had  exerted  that  vast  and  permanent 
influence  on  the  future-  of  the  Church  which 
Rothe's  theory  supposes,  it  is  scarcely  possible 
that  this  early  historian  should  have  been  ig- 
norant of  the  fact,  or  knowing  it  should  have 
passed  it  over  in  silence.     (2)  The  genuineness 


THE  GHRmTIAN  MINISTRY.  45 

of  the  Pfaffiaii  fragments  of  Irensens  must  al- 
ways remain  doubtful.  Independently  of  the 
mystery  which  hangs  over  their  publication, 
the  very  passage  quoted  throws  great  suspicion 
on  their  authorship  ;  for  the  expression  in 
question  seems  naturally  to  refer  to  the  so- 
called  Apostolic  Constitutions,  which  have 
been  swelled  to  their  present  size  by  the  accre- 
tions of  successive  generations,  but  can  hardly 
have  existed  even  in  a  rudimentary  form  in 
the  age  of  Irenseus,  or  if  existing  have  been 
regarded  by  liim  as  genuine.  If  lie  had  been 
acquainted  with  sr.ch  later  ordinances  issued 
by  the  authority  of  an  apostolic  council,  is  it 
conceivable  that  in  his  great  work  on  heresies 
he  should  have  omitted  to  quote  a  canction  so 
unquestionable,  where  liis  main  object  is  to 
sliow  that  the  doctrine  of  tlie  Catholic  Church 
in  his  day  represented  the  true  teaching  of  the 
apostles,  and  his  main  argument  the  fact  that 
the  Catholic  bishops  of  his  time  derived  their 
office  by  direct  succession  from  the  apostles  ? 
(3)  The  passage  in  the  epistle  of  St.  Clement 
cannot  be  correctly  interpreted  by  Rotlie  ;  for 
his  explanation,  though  elaborately  defended, 
disregards  tlie  purpose  of  the  letter.  The  Co- 
rinthian Church  is  disturbed  by  a  spirit  of 
insubordination.     Presbyters,  who  have  faith- 


40  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

fully  discliarged  their  duties,  have  nevertheless 
been  ruthlessly  expelled  from  office.     St.  Clem- 
ent writes  in  the  name  of  the  Roman  Church 
to  correct  these  irregularities.      lie  reminds 
the  Corinthians  that  the  presbyteral  office  vv^as 
established    l)y   the    apostles,    who    not  only 
themselves  appointed  elders,  but  also  gave  di- 
rections that  the  vacancies  caused  from  time 
to  time  by  death  should  be  tilled  up  by  other 
men  of  character,  thus  providing  for  a  succes- 
sion in  the  ministry.     Consequently  in  these 
unworthy  feuds  they  v/ere  setting  themselves 
in  opposition  to  officers  of  repute  either  act- 
ually nominated  by  apostles,   or  appointed  by 
those    so  nominated    in  accordance  with  the 
apostolic  injunctions.     There  is  no  mention  of 
episcopacy,  properly  so  called,  througliout  tlie 
epistle  ;  for  in  the  language  of  St.  Clement, 
''  bishop"  and  "  presbyter"  are  still  synony- 
mous  terms.      Thus   the    pronouns  ''they," 
' '  their, ' '  refer  naturally  to  the  presbyters  first 
appointed  by  the  apostles  themselves.   Whether 
(supposing  the  reading  to  be  correct)  Rothe 
has  rightly  translated  £7nvo^7]v  ''a  codicil,"  it 
is  unnecessary  to  inquire,  as  the  rendering  does 
notmaterially  affect  the  question. 

Nor,  again,  does  it  appear  that  the  rise  of 
episcopacy  was  so  sudden  and  so  immediate, 


THE  0HBI8TIAN  MINISTRY.  47 

that  an   aiitlioritative   order  issuing  from  an 
apostolic  council  alone  can  explain  the  phenom- 
enon.    In  the  mysterious  period  which  com- 
prises the  last  thirty  years  of  the  first  century, 
and  on  wliich  history  in  almost  wholly  silent, 
episcopacy  nmst,  it  is  true,  have  been  mainly 
developed.     But  before  this  period  its  begin- 
nings may  be  traced,  and  after  the  close  it  is 
not  yet  fully  matured.     It  seems  vain  to  deny 
with  Rotlie  that  the  position   of  St.  James  in 
the  mother  Church  furnished  the  precedent 
and  the   pattern  of   the   later  episcopate.     It 
appears  equally  mistaken  to  maintain,  as  this 
theory  requires,  that  at  the  close  of  the  first 
and  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  the 
organization  of  all  churches  alike  had  arrived 
at  the  same  stage  of  development  and  exhil)- 
ited.the  episcopate  in  an  equally  perfect  form. 
On   the    other   hand,  the  emergency  which 
consolidated  the   episcopal    form   of   govern- 
ment is  correctly  and  forcibly  stated.     It  was 
remarked  long  ago  by  Jerome,  that   "before 
factions  were  introduced  into  religion  by  the 
prompting  of  the  deWl,"  the  churches  were 
governed  by  a  council  of  elders,  "  but  as  soon 
as  each  man  began  to  consider  those  whom  he 
had  baptized  to  Belong  to  himself  and  not  to 
Christ,  it  was  decided  throughout  the  world 


48  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.     ■ 

that  one  elected  from  among  the  elders  sliould 
be  placed  over  the  rest,  so  that  the  care  of  the 
chnrch  should  devolve  on  him,  and  the  seeds 
of  schism  be  removed. ' '  And  again  in  another 
passage  he  writes  to  the  same  efEect  :  "  When 
afterwards  one  presbyter  w^as  elected  that  he 
might  be  placed  over  the  rest,  this  was  done  as 
a  remedy  against  schism,  that  each  man  might 
not  drag  to  himself  and  thus  break  np  the 
Chnrch  of  Christ."  To  the  dissensions  of 
Jew  and  Gentile  converts,  and  to  the  disputes 
of  Gnostic  false  teachers,  the  development  of 
ej^iscopacy  may  be  mainly  ascribed. 

Xor  again  is  Rothe  probably  wrong  as  to 
the  authority  mainly  instrumental  in  effecting 
the  change.  Asia  Minor  was  the  adopted 
home  of  more  than  one  Apostle  after  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem.  Asia  Minor  too  was  th^  nurse, 
if  not  the  mother,  of  episcopacy  in  the  Gen- 
tile churches.  So  important  an  institution, 
developed  in  a  Christian  community  of  whicli 
St.  John  was  the  living  centre  and  guide,  could 
hardly  have  grown  up  without  his  sanction  ; 
and,  as  w^ill  be  seen  presently,  early  tradition 
very  distinctly  connects  his  name  with  the  ap- 
pointment of  bishops  in  these  partSo 

But  to  the  question  how  this  change  wa§. 
brought  about,  a  somewhat  different  answer 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MmiSTEY.  49 

must  be  given.  We  liave  seen  tliat  the  needs 
of  the  Church  and  the  ascendancy  of  his  per- 
sonal character  placed  St.  James  at  the  head 
of  the  Christian  brotherhood  in  Jerusalem. 
Though  remaining  a  member  of  the  presby- 
teral  council,  he  was  singled  out  from  the  rest 
and  placed  in  a  position  of  superior  responsi- 
bility. His  exact  power  it  would  be  impos- 
sible, and  it  is  unnecessary,  to  define.  When, 
therefore,  after  the  fall  of  the  city,  St.  John, 
witii  other  surviving  apostles,  removed  to 
Asia  Minov,  and  found  there  manifold  irregu- 
larities and  threatening  symptoms  of  disrup- 
tion, he  would  not  unnaturally  encourage  an 
approach  in  these  Gentile  Churches  to  the 
same  organization  which  had  been  signally 
blessed  and  proved  effectual  in  holding  to- 
gether the  mother  Church  amid  dangers  not 
less  serious.  The  existence  of  a  council  or 
college  necessarily  supposes  a  presidency  of 
some  kind,  whether  this  presidency  be  assumed 
by  each  member  in  turn,  or  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  a  single  person.  It  was  only  neces- 
sary therefore  for  him  to  give  permanence, 
definiteness,  stabihty,  to  an  office  which  al- 
ready existed  in  germ.  There  is  no  reason, 
however,  for  supposing  that  any  direct  ordi- 
nance was  issued  to  the  churches.     The  evi- 


50  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

dent  utility,  and  even  pressing  need  of  such  an 
office,  sanctioned  by  tlie  most  venerated  name 
in  Christendom,  Avould  be  sufficient  to  secure 
its  wide  though  [^rradual  reception.  Such  a 
reception,  it  is  true,  supposes  a  substantial 
liarmony  and  freedom  of  intercourse  among 
the  churches  which  remained  undisturbed  by 
the  troubles  of  the  times  ;  but  the  silence  of 
history  is  not  at  all  unfavorable  to  this  sup- 
position. In  this  way,  during  the  historical 
blank  which  extends  over  half  a  century  after 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  episcopacy  \vas  matured 
and  the  Catholic  Church  consolidated. 

At  all  events,  Avhen  we  come  to  trace  the 
early  history  of  the  office  in  the  principal 
churches  of  Christendom  in  succession,  we 
shall  find  all  the  facts  consistent  with  the  ac- 
count adopted  here,  wdiile  some  of  them  are 
liardly  reconcilable  wdth  any  other.  In  this 
review  it  will  be  convenient  to  commence  with 
the  mother  Church,  and  to  take  the  others  in 
order,  as  they  are  connected  either  l)y  neigh- 
borhood 01*  by  political  or  religious  syjupathy. 

1.   The  Church  of  Jerusalem,  as  I  have  al- 
ready pointed  out,  presents  the  earliest  instance 
of  a  bishop.     A  certain  official  prominence  is 
assigned  to  James  the  Lord's  brother,  both  in  ^■ 
the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  and   in  the  Acts  of 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  51 

the  Apostles.  And  the  inference  drawn  from 
the  notices  in  tlie  canonical  Scriptnres  is  borne 
ont  by  the  tradition  of  the  next  ages.  As 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  second  centnry  all 
parties  concur  in  representing  him  as  a  bishop 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term.  In  this  re- 
spect Catholic  Christians  and  Ebionite  Chris- 
tians hold  the  same  language  :  the  testimony 
of  Hegesippus  on  the  one  hand  is  matched  by 
the  testimony  of  the  Clementine  writings  on 
the  other.  On  his  death,  which  is  recorded 
as  taking  place  immediately  before  the  war  of 
Vespasian,  Symeon  w^as  appointed  in  his  place. 
Hegesippus,  who  is  our  authority  for  this 
statement,  distinctly  regards  Symeon  as  hold- 
ing the  same  office  with  James,  and  no  less 
distinctly  calls  him  a  bishop.  This  same  his- 
torian also  mentions  the  circumstances  that 
one  Thebuthis  (apparently  on  this  occasion), 
being  disappointed  of  the  bishopric,  raised  a 
schism  and  attempted  to  corrupt  the  virgin 
purity  of  the  Church  with  false  doctrine.  As 
Symeon  died  in  the  reign  of  Trajan,  at  an 
advanced  age,  it  is  not  improbable  that  Hege- 
sippus was  born  during  his  lifetime.  Of  the 
successors  of  Symeon  a  complete  list  is  pre- 
served by  Eusebius.  The  fact,  however,  that 
it  comprises  thirteen  names  within  a  period  of 


52  THE  CURISTIAN  MINISTRY, 

less  tlian  tliirtj  years  must  throw  suspicion  on 
its  aecnracy.  A  succession  so  rapid  is  hardly 
consistent  with  the  known  tenure  of  life  of- 
fices in  ordinary  cases  ;  and  if  the  list  be  cor- 
rect, the  frequent  changes  must  be  attributed 
to  the  troubles  and  uncertainties  of  the  times. 
If  Eusebius  here  also  had  derived  his  infor- 
mation from  Hegesippus,  it  must  at  least  have 
had  some  solid  foundation  in  fact  ;  but  even 
then  the  alternation  between  Jerusalem  and 
Pella,  and  the  possible  confusion  of  the  bish- 
ops with  other  prominent  members  of  the 
presbytery,  might  introduce  much  error.  It 
appears,  however,  that  in  this  instance  he  was 
indebted  to  less  trustworthy  sources  of  infor- 
mation. The  statement  that  after  the  foun- 
dation of  ^lia  Ca2:>itolina  (a.d.  136)  Marcus 
presided  over  the  mother  Church,  as  its  first 
Gentile  bishop,  need  not  be  questioned  ;  and 
beyond  this  point  it  is  unnecessary  to  carry  the 
investigation. 

Of  other  bishops  in  Palestine  and  the  neigh- 
borhood before  the  latter  half  of  the  second 
century  no  trustworthy  notice  is  preserved,  so 
far  as  I  know.  During  the  Roman  episcopate 
of  Victor,  however  (about  a.d.  190),  we  find 
three  bishops,  Theophilus  of  Csesarea,  Cassius 
of  Tyre,  and  Clarus  of  Ptolemais,  in  conjunc- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  53 

tion  with  IS^arcissus  of  Jerusalem,  writing  an 
encyclical  letter  in  favor  of  the  western  view 
in  the  Paschal  controversy.  If  indeed  any 
reliance  conld  be  placed  on  the  Clementine 
writings,  the  episcopate  of  Palestine  was  ma- 
tured at  a  very  early  date  ;  for  St.  Peter  is 
there  represented  as  apj^ointing  bishops  in 
xiYQYj  city  which  he  visits,  in  Coesarea,  Tyre, 
Sidon,  Berytns,  Tripolis,  and  Laodicea.  And 
tliongh  the  fictions  of  this  theological  romance 
have  no  direct  historical  value,  it  is  hardly 
probable  that  the  writer  would  have  indulged 
in  such  statements  unless  an  early  develop- 
ment of  the  episcoj^ate  in  these  parts  had  in- 
vested his  narrative  with  an  air  of  probability. 
The  institution  would  naturally  spread  from 
the  Church  of  Jerusalem  to  the  more  impor- 
tant communities  in  the  neighborhood,  even 
without  the  direct  intervention  of  the  apos- 
tles. 

2.  From  the  mother  Church  of  the  He- 
brews we  jiass  naturally  to  the  metropolis  of 
Gentile  Christendom.  Antioch  is  traditionally 
reported  to  have  received  its  first  bishop,  Evo- 
dius,  from  St.  Peter.  The  story  may  perhaps 
rest  on  some  basis  of  truth,  though  no  confi- 
dence can  be  nlaced  in  this  class  of  statements, 
unless  they  are  known  to  have  been  derived 


54  THE  CHBFSTIAN  MINISTRY. 

from  some  early  aiitliority.  But  of  Ignatius, 
wlio  stands  second  in  tlie  traditional  catalogue 
of  Antiocliene  l)isliops,wecan  sj^eak  with  more 
confidence.  lie  is  designated  a  bishop  by 
very  early  authors,  aiid  he  evidently  speaks 
as  such.  He  writes  to  one  bishop,  Polycarp  ; 
he  mentions  by  name  another,  Onesimus. 
He  looks  forward  to  the  appointment  of  a 
successor  at  Antioch  after  his  death.  He 
urges  obedience  to  their  bishops  on  his  corre- 
spondents. And,  lesit  it  should  be  supposed 
that  he  uses  the  tei'm  in  its  earlier  sense  as  a 
synonyme  for  presbyter,  he  in  one  passage 
mentions  in  conjunction  the  three  orders  of  the 
ministry — the  bishop,  the  presbyters,  and  the 
deacons.  Altogether,  it  is  plain  that  he  looks 
upon  the  episcopal  system  as  the  authoritative 
form  of  government  in  those  churches  with 
w^hich  he  is  most  directly  concerned.  It  may 
be  suggested  indeed  that  he  would  hardly  have 
enforced  the  claims  of  episcopacy  unless  it 
were  an  object  of  attack,  and  its  comparative- 
ly recent  origin  might  therefore  be  inferred  ; 
but  still  some  years  w^ould  be  required  before 
it  could  have  assumed  that  mature  and  defi- 
nite form  which  it  has  in  his  letters.  It  seems 
impossible  to  decide,  and  it  is  needless  to  in- 
vestigate, the  exact  date  of  the  e])istles  of  St. 


THE  aimisnAN  MINISTRT.  55 

Ignatius  ;  but  we  cannot  do  wrong  in  placing 
them  during  the  earliest  years  of  tlie  second 
century.  The  successor  to  whom  Ignatius  al- 
ludes is  reported  to  have  been  Hero  ;  and  from 
liis  time  onward  the  list  of  Antiochene  bishops 
is  complete.  If  the  authenticity  of  the  list,  as 
a  whole,  is  questionable,  two  bishops  of  Anti- 
ocli,  at  least  during  the  second  century,  Theo- 
philus  and  Serapion,  are  known  as  historical 
persons. 

If  the  Clementine  writings  emanated,  as 
seems  probable,  from  Syria  or  Palestine,  this 
will  be  the  proper  j^lace  to  state  their  atti- 
tude with  regard  to  episcopacy.  Whether  the 
o23inions  there  advanced  exhibit  the  recognized 
tenets  of  a  sect  or  congregation,  or  the  pri- 
vate views  of  the  individual  writer  or  Avriters, 
will  probably  never  be  ascertained  ;  but,  what- 
ever may  be  said  on  this  point,  these  heretical 
books  outstrip  the  most  rigid  orthodoxy  in 
their  reverence  for  the  episcopal  office.  Mon- 
archy is  represented  as  necessary  to  the  peace 
of  the  Clmrcli.  The  bishop  occupies  the  seat 
of  Christ,  and  must  be  honored  as  the  image  of 
God.  And  hence  St.  Peter,  as  he  moves  from 
place  to  place,  ordains  bishops  everywhere,  as 
though  this  w^ere  tlie  crowning  act  of  his  mis- 
sionary labors.     The  divergence  of  the  Clem- 


56  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

en  tine  doctrine  from  tlie  tenets  of  Catholic 
Christianity  only  renders  this  plienomenon 
more  remarkable,  when  we  rememljer  the  very 
early  date  of  these  writings  ;  for  the  Homilies 
cannot  well  be  placed  later  than  the  end,  and 
should  perhajDS  be  placed  towards  the  begin- 
ning, of  the  second  centnry. 

3.  We  have  hitherto  been  concerned  only 
with  the  Greek  Chnrch  of  Syria.  Of  the  early 
history  of  the  Syrian  Church,  strictly  so  called, 
no  trustworthy  account  is  preserved.  The 
documents  which  profess  to  give  information 
respecting  it  are  comparatively  late  ;  and 
while  their  violent  anachronisms  discredit 
them  as  a  wdiole,  it  is  impossible  to  separate 
the  fabulous  from  the  historic.  It  should  be 
remarked,  however,  that  they  exhibit  a  high 
sacerdotal  view  of  the  episcopate  as  prevailing 
in  these  churches  from  the  earliest  times  of 
which  any  record  is  preserved. 

4.  Asia  Minor  follows  next  in  order  ;  and 
here  we  iind  the  widest  and  most  unequivocal 
traces  of  episcopacy  at  an  early  date.  Clement 
of  Alexandria  distinctly  states  that  St.  John 
went  about  from  city  to  city,  his  purpose  being 
' '  in  some  places  to  establish  bishops,  in  others 
to  consolidate  whole  churches,  in  others  again 
to  ap[:)oint  ^o  the  clerical  office  some  one  of 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  57 


55 


those  who  had  l^een  signifiecl  by  the  Spirit 
^'  The  sequence  of  bishops,"  writes  Tertiilhan 
inhke  manner  of  Asia  Minor,  ''  traced  back  to 
its  origin  will  be  found  to  rest  on  the  authority 
of  John. ' '  And  a  writer  earlier  than  either 
speaks  of  St.  John's  "  fellow-disciples  and 
bishops"  as  gathered  about  him.  The  conclu- 
siveness even  of  such  testimony  might  perhaps 
be  doubted,  if  it  were  not  supported  by  other 
more  direct  evidence.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  second  century  the  genuine  letters  of  Igna- 
tius mention  by  name  two  bishops  in  these 
parts,  Onesimus  of  Ephesus  and  Polycarp  of 
Smyrna.  Of  the  former,  nothing  more  is 
known  ;  the  latter  evidently  writes  as  a  bishop, 
for  he  distinguishes  himself  from  his  presby- 
ters, and  is  expressly  so  called  by  other  writers 
besides  Ignatius.  His  pupil  Iren^eus  says  of 
him  that  he  had  "  not  only  been  instructed  by 
apostles,  and  conversed  with  many  w^ho  had 
seen  Christ,  but  had  also  been  established  by 
apostles  in  Asia  as  bishop  in  the  church  at 
Smyrna . ' '  Poly  crates  also,  a  younger  contem- 
porary of  Polycarp,  and  himself  bishop  of 
Ephesus,  designates  him  by  this  title  ;  and 
again  in  the  letter  written  by  his  own  church, 
and  giving  an  account  of  his  martyrdom,  he  is 
styled    ^'  bishop  of    the   Catholic   Church  in 


58  THE  CURISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

Smyrna."  As  Polycarp  survived  the  middle 
of  the  second  century,  dying  at  a  very  ad- 
vanced age  (about  a.d.  166),  the  possibility  of 
error  on  this  jooint  seems  to  be  exckided  ;  and 
indeed  all  historical  evidence  must  be  thrown 
aside  as  worthless  if  testimony  so  strong  can 
be  disregarded. 

The  shoi-t  Greek  of  the  Jo^natian  letters  is 
23robably  corrupt  or  spurious  ;  but  from  inter- 
nal evidence  this  recension  can  hardly  have 
been  made  later  than  the  middle  of  the  sec- 
ond century,  and  its  witness  therefore  is  highly 
valuable.  The  stanch  advocacy  of  the  epis- 
copate which  distinguishes  these  writings  is 
w^ell  known  and  will  be  considered  hereafter. 
At  present  we  are  only  concerned  with  the  his- 
torical testimony  which  they  bear  to  the  w^ide 
extension  and  authoritative  claims  of  the  epis- 
copal office.  Besides  Polycarj)  and  Onesimus, 
mentioned  by  the  true  Ignatius,  the  writer 
names  also  Damas,  Bishop  of  Magnesia,  and 
Polybius,  Bishop  of  Tralles  ;  and  he  urges  on 
the  Philadelphians  also  the  duty  of  obedience 
to  their  bishop,  though  the  name  is  not  given. 
It  seems  j^robable  that  these  were  not  fictitious 
personages,  for  he  would  be  anxious  to  give  an 
air  of  reality  to  his  writings  ;  but  whether  or  ^ 
not  we  regard  his  testimony  as  indirectly  af- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  59 

fecting  the  age  of  Ignatius,  for  liis  OAvn  time  at 
least  it  must  be  regarded  as  valid. 

But  the  evidence  is  not  confined  to  the  per- 
sons and  the  churches  already  mentioned. 
Papias,  who  was  a  friend  of  Polycarp  arid  had 
conversed  with  j)ersonal  discij^les  of  the  Lord, 
is  commonly  designated  Bishop  of  Hierapolis  ; 
and  we  learn  froin  a  younger  contem2:>orary, 
Serapion,  that  Claudius  Apollinaris,  known  as 
a  writer  against  the  Montanists,  also  held  this 
see  in  the  reign  of  M.  Aurelius.  Again,  Saga- 
ris  the  martyr,  who  seems  to  have  perished  in 
the  same  persecution  with  Polycarp  (a.d.  166), 
is  designated  Bishop  of  Laodicea  hy  one  v/rit- 
ing  towards  the  close  of  the  same  century, 
who  also  alludes  to  Melito,  the  contemporary 
of  Sagaris,  as  holding  the  see  of  Sardis.  The 
authority  just  quoted,  Polycrates  of  Ephesus, 
who  flourished  in  ihe  last  decade  of  the  cen- 
tury, says,  moreover,  that  he  had  had  seven 
relations  bishops  before  him,  himself  being  the 
eighth,  and  that  he  followed  their  tradition. 
When  he  wrote  he  had  been  ^'  sixty-five  years 
in  the  Lord  ;"  so  that  even  if  this  period  date 
from  the  time  of  his  birth,  and  not  of  liis  con- 
version or  baptism,  he  must*  have  been  born 
scarcely  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  the  death 
of  the  last  sur\dving  apostle,  whose  latest  years 


60  THE  CURISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

were  spent  in  the  very  churcli  over  wliicli  Po- 
h^crates  himself  presided.  It  apj)ears,  more- 
over, from  his  language,  that  none  of  these  re- 
lations to  whom  he  refers  were  survi\dng  when 
he  wrote. 

Tlnis  the  evidence  for  the  early  and  wide 
extension  of  e2)iscopacy  throughout  j)rocon- 
sular  Asia,  the  scene  of  St.  John's  latest 
lal)0]'s,  may  be  considered  irrefragal)le.  And 
when  we  j^ass  to  other  districts  of  Asia  Minor 
examples  ai'e  not  Avanting,  though  these  arc 
neither  so  early  nor  so  frequent.  Marcion,  a 
native  of  Sinoj^e,  is  related  to  have  heen  the 
son  of  a  Christian  bisho2:)  :  and  Marcion  him- 
self had  elaborated  liis  theological  system  be- 
fore the  middle  of  the  second  century.  Again, 
a  bishoj)  of  Eumenia,  Thraseas  by  name,  is 
stated  by  Polycrates  to  have  been  martyred 
and  buried  at  Smyrna  ;  and,  as  he  is  men- 
tioned in  connection  with  Polycarp,  it  may 
fairly  be  supposed  that  the  two  suffered  in 
the  same  persecution.  Dionysius  of  Corinth, 
moreover,  writing  to  Amastris  and  the  other 
churches  of  Pontus  (about  a.d.  170),  mentions 
Palmas,  the  bishop  of  this  city  ;  and  when  the 
Paschal  controversy  breaks  out  afresh  under 
Victor  of  Pome,  Ave  find  this  same  Palmas  ^. 
putting  his  signature  first  to  a  circular  letter 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  61 

as  the  senior  of  tlie  bishops  of  Pontns.  An 
anonymous  writer  also,  who  took  part  in  tlie 
Montanist  controversy,  speaks  of  two  bishops 
of  repute,  Zoticus  of  Comana  and  Jnhanus  of 
Apamea,  as  having  resisted  the  impostures  of 
the  false  prophetesses.  But  indeed  the  fre- 
quent notices  of  encyclical  letters  written  and 
synods  held  towards  the  close  of  the  second 
century  are  a  much  more  powerful  testimony 
to  the  wide  extension  of  episcopacy  through- 
out the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor  than  the  in- 
cidental mention  of  individual  names.  On 
one  such  occasion  Poly  crates  speaks  of  the 
'^  crowds"  of  bishops  whom  he  had  summoned 
to  confer  with  him  on  the  Paschal  question. 

5.  As  we  turn  from  Asia  Minor  to  Mace- 
donia and  Greece,  the  evidence  becomes 
fainter  and  scantier.  This  circumstance  is 
no  doubt  due  partly  to  the  fact  that  these' 
churches  were  much  less  active  and  important 
during  the  second  century  than  the  Christian 
communities  of  Asia  Minor,  but  the  phenom- 
ena cannot  be  wholly  explained  by  this  con- 
sideration. When  Tertullian  in  one  of  his 
rhetorical  flights  challenges  the  heretical  teach- 
ers to  consult  the  apostolic  churches,  where 
' '  the  very  sees  of  the  apostles  still  preside, ' ' 
adding,  "  If  Achaia  is  nearest  to  you,  then  you 


02  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

have  Corinth  ;  if  you  are  not  far  from  Mace- 
donia, you  have  Phihppi,  you  have  the  Thes- 
salonians  ;  if  you  can  reach  Asia,  you  have 
Ephesus" — his  main  argument  was  doubtless 
just,  and  even  the  language  would  commend 
itself  to  his  own  age,  for  episcopacy  was  the 
only  form  of  government  kno\\ai  or  remem- 
bered in  the  Church  when  he  wrote  ;  but  a 
careful  investigation  scarcely  allows  and  cer- 
tainly does  not  encourage  us  to  place  Corinth 
and  Philippi  and  Thessalonica  in  the  same 
category  with  Ephesus  as  regards  episcopacy. 
The  term  ''  apostolic  see"  was  appropriate  to 
the  latter  ;  but,  so  far  as  we  know,  it  cannot 
be  strictly  applied  to  the  former.  During  the 
early  years  of  the  second  century,  when  epis- 
copacy was  firmly  established  in  the  j^rincipal 
churches  of  Asia  Minor,  Polycai-p  sends  a  let- 
ter to  the  Philippians.  He  w^rites  in  the  name 
of  himself  and  his  presbyters  ;  he  gives  advice 
to  the  Philippians  respecting  the  obligations 
and  the  authority  of  presbyters  and  deacons  ; 
he  is  minute  in  his  instructions  resj)ecting  one 
individual  presbyter,  Yalens  by  name,  wdio 
had  been  guilty  of  some  crime  ;  but  through- 
out the  letter  he  never  once  refers  to  their 
bishop  ;  and  indeed  its  whole  tone  is  hardly  ^ 
consistent  with  the  supposition  that  they  had 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  63 

any  chief  officer  holding  the  same  prominent 
position  at  Phib'ppi  which  he  himself  held  at 
Smyrna.  We  are  thus  driven  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  episcopacy  did  not  exist  at  all  among 
the  Philippians  at  this  time,  or  existed  only 
in  an  elementary  form,  so  that  the  bishop  was 
a  mere  president  of  the  presbyteral  council. 
At  Thessalonica  indeed,  according  to  a  tradi- 
tion mentioned  by  Origen,  the  same  Caius 
whom  St.  Paul  describes  as  his  host  at  Corinth 
was  afterwards  appointed  bishop  ;  but  with  so 
common  a  name  the  possibilities  of  error  are 
great,  even  if  the  testimony  were  earlier  in 
date  and  expressed  in  more  distinct  terms. 
When  from  Macedonia  we  pass  to  Achaia,  the 
same  phenomeuM.  present  themselves.  At  the 
close  of  the  first  century  Clement  writes  to 
Corinth,  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century  Poly  carp  writes  to  Philipj^i.  As  in 
the  latter  epistle,  so  in  the  former,  there  is  no 
allusion  to  the  episcopal  office  ;  yet  the  main 
subject  of  Clement's  letter  is  the  expulsion 
and  ill-treatment  of  certain  presbyters,  whose 
authority  he  maintains  as  holding  an  office  in- 
stituted by  and  handed  down  from  the  aj^os- 
tles  themselves.  If  Corinth,  however,  was 
without  a  bisliop  in  the  strict  sense  at  the 
close   of   the   first   centurv,  she  cannot    lonsf 


64:  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

have  remained  so.  When  some  lifty  years 
later  Hegesippiis  stayed  here  on  his  way  to 
Rome,  Primus  was  bishop  of  this  chnrch  ; 
and  it  is  clear,  moreover,  from  this  writer's  lan- 
guage, that  Primus  had  been  preceded  by  sev- 
eral occnpants  of  the  see.  Indeed  the  order  of 
his  narrative,  so  far  as  we  can  piece  it  together 
from  the  broken  fragments  preserved  in  Euse- 
bins,  might  suggest  the  inference,  not  at  all 
improbable  in  itself,  that  episcopacy  had  been 
established  at  Corinth  as  a  corrective  of  the 
dissensions  and  feuds  which  had  called  forth 
Clement's  letter.  Again,  Dionysius,  one  of 
the  immediate  successors  of  Primus,  was  the 
writer  of  several  letters  of  which  fragments 
are  extant  ;  and  at  the  close  of  the  century  we 
meet  with  a  later  bishop  of  Corinth,  Bacchyl- 
lus,  who  takes  an  active  part  in  the  Paschal 
controversy.  When  from  Corinth  we  pass  on 
to  Athens,  a  very  early  instance  of  a  bishop 
confronts  us,  on  authority  whicli  seems  at  first 
sight  good.  Eusebius  represents  Dionysius  of 
Corinth,  who  wrote  apparently  about  the  year 
lYO,  as  stating  that  his  namesake  the  Areopa- 
gite,  '  ^  having  been  brought  to  the  faith  by  the 
Apostle  Paul  according  to  the  account  in  the 
Acts,  was  the  first  to  be  intrusted  with  the  v 
bishopric  (or  supervision)   of  tlie  diocese   (in 


THE  GHEISTIA.Y  MINISTRY.  65 

the  language  of  those  times,  the  parish)  of  the 
Athenians. ' '  Now,  if  we  could  be  sure  that 
Eusebius  was  here  reporting  the  exact  words 
of  Dionysius,  tlie  testimony,  though  not  con- 
clusive, would  be  entitled  to  great  deference. 
In  this  case  the  easiest  solution  would  be,  that 
this  ancient  writer  had  not  unnaturally  con- 
founded the  earlier  and  later  usage  of  the 
word  bishop.  But  it  seems  most  probable 
that  Eusebius  (for  he  does  not  profess  to  be 
giving  a  direct  quotation)  has  unintentionally 
paraphrased  and  interpreted  the  statement  of 
Dionysius  by  the  light  of  later  ecclesiastical 
usages.  However,  Athens,  like  Corinth,  did 
not  long  remain  without  a  bishop.  The  same 
Dionysius,  writing  to  the  Athenians,  reminds 
them  how,  after  the  martyrdom  of  Publins, 
their  ruler  {toy  npoeffrc^ra)^  Quadratus  be- 
coming bishop  sustained  the  courage  and  stimu- 
lated the  faith  of  the  Athenian  brotherhood. 
If,  as  seems  more  probable  than  not,  this  was 
the  famous  Quadratus  who  presented  his 
apology  to  Hadrian  during  that  emperor's 
visit  to  Athens,  the  existence  of  episcopacy  in 
this  city  is  thrown  back  early  in  the  century, 
even  though  Quadratus  were  not  already 
bishop  when  Hadrian  paid  his  visit. 

6.  The  same  writer,  from  whom  we  learn 


66  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

these  particulars  about  episcopacy  at  Athens, 
also  furnishes  information  on  the  Church  in 
Crete.  lie  writes  letters  to  two  diiferent  com- 
munities in  this  island — the  one  to  Gortjna, 
connnending  Philip,  who  held  this  see  ;  the 
other  to  the  Cnossians,  offering  words  of  advice 
to  their  bishop,  Pinytus.  The  first  was  author 
of  a  treatise  against  Marcion  ;  the  latter  wrote 
a  reply  to  Dionysius,  of  which  Eusebius  has 
preserved  a  brief  notice. 

7.  Of  episcopacy  in  Thrace,  and  indeed  of 
the  Thracian  Church  generally,  we  read  noth- 
ing till  the  close  of  the  second  century,  when 
^Elius  Pubhus  Julius,  Bishop  of  Debeltum,  a 
colony  in  this  province,  signs  an  encyclical  bt- 
ter.  The  existence  of  a  see  at  a  place  no  uniin- 
portant  implies  the  ^dde  spread  of  episcopacy 
in  these  regions. 

8.  As  we  turn  to  Rome,  we  are  confronted 
l)y  a  far  more  perplexing  problem  than  any 
encountered  hitherto.  The  attempt  to  de- 
cipher the  early  history  of  episcopacy  here 
seems  almost  hopeless,  wdiere  the  evidence  is  at 
once  scanty  and  conflicting.  It  has  been  often 
assumed  that  in  the  metropolis  of  the  world, 
the  seat  of  imperial  rule,  the  spirit  which  dom 
inated  in  the  State  must  by  natural  predispo- 
sition and  sympathy  have  infused  itself  inl(j 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  67 

the  CliTircli  also,  so  that  a  monarchical  form  of 
government  wonld  be  developed  more  rapidly 
here  than  in  other  parts  of  Christendom,  This 
snpposition  seems  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the 
iniluences  whicli  prevailed  in  the  early  chm^ch 
of  the  metropolis  were  more  Greek  than  Eo 
man,  and  that  therefore  the  tendency  would  be 
rather  towards  individual  liberty  than  towards 
compact  and  rigorous  government.  But  in- 
deed such  presumptions,  how^ever  attractive 
and  specious,  are  valueless  against  the  slightest 
evidence  of  facts.  And  the  most  trustworthy 
sources  of  information  which  we  possess  do 
not  countenance  the  idea.  The  earliest  au- 
thentic document  bearing  on  the  subject  is  the 
Epistle  from  the  Romans  to  the  Corinthians, 
probably  written  in  the  last  decade  of  the  first 
century.  I  have  already  considered  the  bearing 
of  this  letter  on  episcopacy  in  the  Church  of 
Corinth,  and  it  is  now  time  to  ask  wdiat  light 
it  throws  on  this  same  institution  at  Rome. 
Now  we  cannot  hesitate  to  accept  the  universal 
testimony  of  antiquity  that,  it  was  written  by 
Clement,  the  reputed  Bishop  of  Rome  ;  and  it 
is  therefore  the  more  surprising  that,  if  he  held 
this  high  office,  the  writer  should  not  only  not 
distinguish  liimself  in  any  w^ay  from  the  rest 
of  the  Church  (as  Polycarp  does  for  instance). 


68  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

but  that  even  liis  name  sliould  be  suppressed. 
It  is  still  more  important  to  observe  tliat,  though 
he  has  occasion  to  speak  of  the  ministry  as 
an  institution  of  the  apostles,  he  mentions 
only  two  orders,  and  is  silent  about  the  epis 
copal  office.  IVIoreover,  he  still  uses  the  word 
"  bishop"  in  the  older  sense  in  which  it  oc- 
curs in  the  apostolic  writings,  as  a  synonyme 
for  presbyter  ;  and  i't  may  be  argued  that  the 
recognition  of  the  episcopate  as  a  higher  and 
distinct  office  would  obhge  the  adoption  of 
a  special  name,  and,  therefore,  must  have 
synchronized  roughly  with  the  separation  of 
meaning  between  "  bishop"  and  "  presbyter." 
Again,  not  many  years  after  the  date  of  Cle- 
ment's letter,  St.  Ignatius,  on  his  way  to  mar- 
tyrdom, writes  to  the  Romans.  Though  this 
saint  is  the  recognized  champion  of  episcopacy, 
though  the  remaining  six  of  the  Ignatian  let- 
ters all  contain  direct  injunctions  of  obedience 
to  bishops,  in  this  epistle  alone  tliere  is  no  allu- 
sion to  the  episcopal  office  as  existing  among 
his  correspondents.  The  lapse  of  a  few  years 
carries  us  from  the  letters  of  Ignatius  to  the 
Shepherd  of  Hennas.  And  here  the  indica- 
tions are  equivocal.  The  angelic  messenger 
directs  Hermas  to  impart  the  revelation  to  the 
presbyters,  and  also  to  make  two  copies — the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  69 

one  for  Clement,  who  shall  communicate  with 
the  f  oredgn  clmrches  (such  being  his  duty)  ;  the 
other  for  Gra^^te,  who  shall  instruct  the  widows. 
Hermas  himself  is  charged  to  ' '  read  it  to  this 
city  with  the  elders  who  preside  over  the 
church."  Elsewhere  mention  is  made  of  the 
"  rulers"  of  the  church.  And  again,  in  an 
enumeration  of  the  faithful  officers  of  the 
churches  past  and  present,  he  speaks  of  the 
"  apostles  and  bishops  and  teachers  and  dea« 
cons."  Here  probably  the  word  ''  bishop"  is 
used  in  its  later  sense,  and  the  presbyters  are 
designated  by  the  term  "  teachers."  Yet  this 
interpretation  cannot  be  regarded  as  cer- 
tain, for  the  ''bishops  and  teachers"  in  Her- 
mas, like  the  ''pastors  and  teachers"  in  St. 
Paul,  may  possibly  refer  to  the  one  presbyteral 
office  in  its  twofold  aspect.  Other  passages  in 
which  Hermas  uses  the  same  terms  are  inde- 
cisive. Thus  he  speaks  of  ' '  apostles  and 
teachers  who  preached  to  the  whole  world  and 
taught  with  reverence  and  purity  the  Word  of 
the  Lord  ;"  of  "  deacons  who  exercised  their 
diaconate  ill  and  plundered  the  life  {rrfv  l,odi)v) 
of  widows  and  orphans  ;"  of  "  hospitable  bish- 
ops who  at  all  times  received  the  servants  of 
God  into  their  homes  cheerfully  and  without 
hypocrisy,"  "  who  protected  the  bereaved  and 


70  THE  CHRISTIAN  MIJSILSTRY. 

the  widows  in  their  ministrations  watliont 
ceasing."  From  these  passages  it  seems  im- 
possible to  arrive  at  a  safe  conclusion  respect- 
ing the  ministry  at  the  time  when  Ilermas 
Avrote.  In  otlier  places  he  condemns  the  false 
prophet  ''  who  seeming  to  have  the  Spirit  ex- 
alts himseK  and  would  fain  have  the  first  seat  ;" 
or  he  warns  ^ '  those  who  rule  over  the  church 
and  those  who  hold  the  chief -seat,"  bidding 
them  give  up  their  dissensions  and  live  at  peace 
among  themselves  ;  or  he  denounces  those  who 
have  ' '  emulation  one  with  another  for  the  first 
place  or  for  some  honor. "  If  we  could  accept 
the  suggestion  that  in  this  last  class  of  passages 
the  writer  condemns  the  ambition  which  aimed 
at  transfonning  the  presbyterian  into  the  epis- 
copal form  of  government,  we  should  have 
arrived  at  a  solution  of  the  difiiculty  ;  but  the 
rebukes  are  couclied  in  the  most  general  tenns, 
and  apply  at  least  as  well  to  the  ambitious  pur- 
suit of  existing  offices  as  to  the  arrogant  asser^ 
tion  of  a  hitherto  unrecognized  power.  Thia 
clue  failing  us,  the  notices  in  the  Shepherd  are 
in  themselves  too  vague  to  lead  to  any  result. 
Were  it  not  known  that  the  writer's  own  brother 
was  bishop  of  Kome,  w^e  should  be  at  a  loss 
what  to  say  about  the  constitution  of  the  Roman 
Church  in  his  day. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY  71 

But  while  the  testimony  of  these  early 
writers  appears  at  first  sight  and  on  the  w^hole 
unfavorable  to  the  existence  of  episcopacy  in 
Kome  when  they  wrote,  the  impression  needs 
to  be  corrected  by  important  considerations  on 
the  other  side.  Hegesippus,  who  visited  Rome 
about  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  dur- 
ing the  papacy  of  Anicetus,  has  left  it  on  rec- 
ord that  he  drew  up  a  list  of  the  Roman 
bishops  to  his  own  time.  As  the  list  is  not 
preserved,  we  can  only  conjecture  its  contents  ; 
but  if  we  may  judge  from  the  sentence 
immediately  following,  in  which  he  praises  the 
orthodoxy  of  this  and  other  churches  under 
each  succession,  his  object  was  probably  to 
show  that  the  teaching  of  the  apostles  had 
been  carefully  preserved  and  handed  down, 
and  he  would  therefore  trace  the  episcopal 
succession  back  to  apostolic  times.  Such,  at 
all  events,  is  the  aim  and  method  of  Irenseus, 
who,  writing  somewhat  later  than  Hegesippus, 
and  combating  Gnostic  heresies,  appeals  es- 
pecially to  the  bishops  of  Rome,  as  deposi- 
taries of  the  apostolic  tradition.  The  list  of 
Irenseus  commences  with  Linus,  whom  he 
identifies  with  the  person  of  this  name  men- 
tioned by  St.  Paul,  and  w^hom  he  states  to 
have  been  ''  entrusted  with  the  ofiice  of  the 


*'^  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

bishopric"    bv  the   apostles.     Tlie  second  in 
succession  is  Anencletus,   of  Avhoni.  lie  relates 
nothing  ;  the   thii-d,   Clemens,   whom  he  de- 
scribes  a.s    a   hearer   of    the  apostles  and    as 
writer  of  the  letter  to  the  Corinthians.     Tlie 
others    in    order   are    Evarestus,   Alexander, 
Xystus,  Telesphorus,  Hyginus,  Pius,  Anicetus, 
iSoter,  and  Eleutherus,    during   whose  episco- 
pacy Irengeus  writes.     Eusebius,  in   different 
works,  gives  two   lists,    both   agreeing  in  the 
order  with  Irenseus,  though  not  according  with 
each  other  in  the  dates.     Catalogues  are  also 
found  in  later  writers,  transposing  the  sequence 
of  the  earliest  bishops,  and  adding  the  name 
Cletus,  or  substituting  it  for  Anencletus.     If 
these  later  catalogues  deserve  to  be  considered 
at  all,  the  discrepancies  may  be  explained  by 
assuming  two  distinct  churches  in    Eome — a 
Jewish  and  a  Gentile  community — in  the  first 
ages  ;  or  they  may  have  arisen  from  a  confusion 
of  the  earlier  and  later  senses  of  iniGKonoz. 
With  the  many  possibilities  of  error,  no  more 
can  safely  be  assumed  of   Linus   and   Anen- 
cletus than   that   they  held    some   prominent 
position  in  the  Eoman  Church.     But  the  rea- 
son for  supposing  Clement  to   have   been   a 
bishop  is  as  strong  as  the  universal  tradition  of 
the  next  ages  can  make  it.     Yet,   while  call- 


THE  CHRISITAN  MINISTRY.  73 

ing  him  a  bishop,  we  must  not  suppose  liim 
to  have  attained  the  same  distinct  isolated  po- 
sition of  authority  wliich  was  occupied  by  his 
successors,  Eleutherus  and  Victor,  for  in- 
stance, at  the  close  of  the  second  century,  or 
even  by  his  contemporaries,  Ignatius  of  Anti- 
och  and  Polycarp  of  Smyrna.  He  was  rather 
the  chief  of  the  presbyters  than  the  chief  over 
the  presbyters.  Only  when  thus  limited  can 
the  episcopacy  of  St.  Clement  be  reconciled 
with  the  language  of  his  own  epistle  or  with 
the  notice  in  his  younger  contemporary,  Her- 
mas.  At  the  same  time,  the  allusion  in  the 
Shepherd,  though  inconsistent  with  any  ex- 
alted conce]3tion  of  his  office,  does  assign  to 
him  as  his  special  province  the  duty  of  com- 
municating with  foreign  churches,  which  in 
the  early  ages  was  essentially  the  bishop's 
function,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  instances  of 
Polycarp,  of  Dionysius,  of  Irengeus,  and  of 
Polycrates.  Of  the  two  succeeding  bishops, 
Evarestus  and  Alexander,  no  authentic  no- 
tices are  preserved.  Xystus,  who  follows,  is 
the  reputed  author  of  a  collection  of  proverbs, 
which  a  distinguished  living  critic  has  not  hes- 
itated to  accept  as  genuine.  He  is  also  the 
earliest  of  those  Koman  prelates  whom  Ire- 
ngeus, writing  to  Victor  in  the  name  of  the 


74  THE  CJIIUSTIAN  MINISTRY. 

Gallican  clinrclies,  mentions  as  having  ol> 
served  Easter  after  the  western  reckoning,  and 
yet  maintaining  j^eace  with  those  wlio  kept  it 
otherwise.  The  next  two,  Telesphorus  and 
Hyginns,  are  described  in  the  same  terms. 
The  former  is  hkewise  distinguished  as  tlie 
sole  mai-tyr  among  the  early  bishops  of  the 
metrojDolis  ;  tlie  latter  is  mentioned  as  being 
in  office  when  the  peace  of  the  Roman  Chnrcli 
was  disturbed  by  the  presence  of  the  heretics 
Yalentinns  and  Cerdon.  With  Pins,  the  next 
in  order,  the  office,  if  not  the  man,  emerges 
into  daylight.  An  anonymous  writer,  treat- 
ing on  the  canon  of  Scripture,  says  that  the 
Shepherd  was  written  by  Hernias,  ''  quite 
lately,  wliile  his  brother  Pius  held  the  see  of 
the  Church  of  Rome."  This  passage,  written 
by  a  contemporary,  besides  the  testimony 
which  it  bears  to  the  date  and  authorship  of 
the  Shepherd  (with  which  we  are  not  here 
concerned),  is  valuable  in  its  bearing  on  this 
investigation  ;  for  the  use  of  the  '^  chair"  or 
"  see"  as  a  recognized  phrase  points  to  a  more 
or  less  prolonged  existence  of  episcopacy  in 
Rome  when  this  writer  lived.  To  Pius  suc- 
ceeds Anicetus.  And  now  Rome  becomes 
for  the  moment  the  centre  of  interest  and . 
activity  in  the  Christian  world.     Durine:  tliis 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  io 

episcopate  Hegesippus,  visiting  the  metropolis 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  and  recording 
the  doctrines  of  the  Konian  Church,  is  wel- 
comed bj  the  bishop.  About  the  same  time, 
also,  another  more  illustrious  visitor,  Poly  carp, 
the  venerable  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  arrives  in 
Rome  to  confer  with  the  head  of  the  Koman 
Church  on  the  Paschal  dispute,  and  there  falls 
in  with  and  denounces  the  heretic  Marcion. 
These  facts  are  stated  on  contemporary  au- 
thority. Of  Soter,  also,  the  next  in  succes- 
sion, a  contem]3orary  record  is  preserved. 
Dionysius  of  Corinth,  writing  to  the  Pomans, 
praises  the  zeal  of  their  bishop,  who,  in  his 
fatherly  care  for  the  suffering  poor,  and  for 
the  prisoners  working  in  the  mines,  had  main- 
tained and  extended  the  hereditary  fame  of 
his  church  for  zeal  in  all  charitable  and  good 
works.  In  Eleutherus,  who  succeeds  Soter, 
we  have  the  earliest  recorded  instance  of  an 
archdeacon.  When  Hegesippus  paid  his  visit 
to  the  metropolis,  he  found  Eleutherus  stand- 
ing in  this  relation  to  the  l)ishoj),  Anicetus, 
and  seems  to  have  made  his  acquaintance 
while  acting  in  this  capacity.  Eleutherus, 
however,  was  a  contemporary,  not  only  of 
Hegesippus,  but  also  of  the  great  writers  Ire- 
nseus  and  TertuUian,  who  speak  of  the  episco- 


76  THH:  CIIRIISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

pal  succession  in  the  clnirclies  generally,  and 
in  Rome  especially,  as  the  best  safeguard  for 
the  transmission  of  the  true  faith  from  apos- 
tolic times.  With  Victor,  the  successor  of 
Eleutherus,  a  new  era  begins.  Aj)parently 
tlie  first  Latin  prelate  who  held  the  metropoli- 
tan see  of  Latin  Christendom,  he  was,  more- 
over, the  first  Homan  bishop  who  is  known  to 
have  had  intimate  relations  with  the  Imperial 
Court,  and  the  first  also  who  advanced  those 
claims  to  universal  dominion  which  his  suc- 
cessors in  later  ages  have  always  consistently 
and  often  successfully  maintained.  "I  hear." 
writes  Tertullian  scornfully,  ''that  an  edict 
has  gone  forth,  ay,  and  that  a  peremptory 
edict  :  the  chief  pontiff  forsooth,  I  mean  the 
bishop  of  bishops,  has  issued  his  commands." 
At  the  end  of  the  first  century  the  Ronuxn 
Church  was  swayed  by  the  mild  and  peaceful 
counsels  of  the  presbyter-bishop,  Clement  ;  the 
close  of  the  second  witnessed  the  autocratic 
pretensions  of  the  haughty  pope  Victor,  the 
prototype  of  a  Hildebrand  or  an  Innocent. 

9.   The  Churches  of  Gaul  were  closely  con- 
nected with  and  probably  descended  from  the 
Churches  of  Asia  Minor.     If  so,  the  episcopal 
form  of  government  would  probably  be  coeval  ^- 
with  the  foundation  of  Cliristian  brotherhoods 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  77 

in  this  country.  It  is  true,  we  do  not  meet 
with  any  earher  bishop  than  the  immediate 
predecessor  of  Irensens  at  Lyons,  the  aged 
PothiniTS,  of  whose  martyrdom  an  account  is 
given  in  the  letter  of  the  GalHcan  churches. 
But  this  is  also  the  first  distinct  historical  no- 
tice of  any  kind  I'elating  to  Christianity  in 
Gaul. 

10.  Africa  again  was  evangelized  from 
Rome  at  a  comparatively  late  date.  Of  the 
African  Church  before  the  close  of  the  second 
century,  when  a  flood  of  hght  is  suddenly 
thrown  upon  it  by  the  writings  of  TertuUian, 
we  know  absolutely  nothing.  But  w^e  need 
not  doubt  that  this  father  represents  the  tra- 
ditions and  sentiments  of  his  church,  when  he 
lays  stress  on  episcopacy  as  an  apostolic  insti- 
tution, and  on  the  episcopate  as  the  depositary 
of  pure  Christian  doctrine.  If  we  may  judge 
by  the  large  number  of  prelates  assembled  in 
the  African  councils  of  a  later  generation,  it 
would  appear  that  the  extension  of  the  episco- 
pate was  far  more  rapid  here  than  in  most 
parts  of  Christendom. 

11.  The  church  of  Alexandria,  on  tlie 
other  hand,  was  probably  founded  in  apos- 
tolic times.  Xor  is  there  any  reason  to  doubt 
the  tradition  which  connects  it  with  the  name 


'iS  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

of  St.  Mark,  tlioiigli  the  authorities  for  the 
statement  are  conq^aratively  recent.  Never- 
theless of  its  early  history  we  liave  no  authen- 
tic record.  Ensebins,  indeed,  gives  a  list  of 
bishops  beginning  with  St.  Miii"k,  which  here, 
as  in  the  case  of  tlie  Tvonian  see,  is  accom- 
panied by  dates  ;  but  from  what  source  he  de- 
rived his  information  is  unknown.  The  first 
contemporary  notice  of  church  officers  in 
Alexandria  is  found  in  a  heathen  writer.  The 
Emperor  Hadrian,  writing  to  the  consul  Servi- 
anus,  thus  describes  the  state  of  religion  in 
this  city  :  ^^  I  ha^'e  become  2:)erfectly  familiar 
with  Eg}^t,  which  you  j^raised  to  me  ;  it  is 
fickle,  uncertain,  blown  about  by  every  gust 
of  rumor.  Those  who  worship  Serapis  are 
Christians,  and  those  are  devoted  to  Serapis 
who  call  themselves  bisliops  of  Christ.  There 
is  no  ruler  of  a  synagogue  there,  no  Samaritan, 
no  Christian  presbyter,  who  is  not  an  astrolo- 
ger, a  soothsayer,  a  quack.  The  patriarch 
hi-mself,  whenever  he  comes  to  Egyj^t,  is  com- 
]3elled  by  some  to  worship  Serapis,  by  others 
to  worsliip  Christ. ' '  In  this  letter,  which  seems 
to  have  been  written  in  the  year  134:,  Hadrian 
shows  more  knowledge  of  Jewish  ecclesiasti- 
cal polity  than  of  Christian i  ;  but,  apparently  - 
without  knowing  the  exact  value  of  terms,  he 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  79 

seems  to  distinguish  the  bishop)  and  tlie  pres- 
byter in  the  Christian  conimnnity.  From  the 
age  of  Hadrian  to  the  age  of  Clement  no  con- 
temporary or  nearly  contemporary  notices  are 
found  bearing  on  the  government  of  the 
Alexandrian  Church.  The  language  of  Clem- 
ent is  significant  ;  he  speaks  sometimes  of  two 
orders  of  the  ministry- — the  presbyters  and 
deacons  ;  sometimes  of  three  —  the  bishops, 
presbyters,  and  deacons.  Thus  it  would  ap- 
pear that  even  as  late  as  the  close  of  the  sec- 
ond century  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria  was 
regarded  as  distinct,  and  yet  not  distinct,  from 
the  presbytery.  And  the  language  of  Clem- 
ent is  further  illustrated  by  the  fact,  which 
will  have  to  be  considered  at  length  presently, 
that  at  Alexandria  the  bishop  was  nominated 
and  apparently  ordained  by  the  twelve  pres- 
byters out  of  their  own  number.  The  epis- 
copal office  in  this  church  during  the  second 
century  gives  no  presage  of  the  world-wide 
influence  to  which,  under  the  prouder  name  of 
patriarchate,  it  was  destined  in  later  ages  to 
attain.  The  Alexandrian  succession,  in  which 
history  is  hitherto  most  interested,  is  not  the 
succession  of  the  bishops,  but  of  the  heads  of 
the  catechetical  schooL  The  first  Bishop  of 
Alexandria,  of  whom  any  distiuct  incident  is 


80  THE  CHRISTIAN  MIXJSTRY. 

recorded  on  trustworthy  authority,  was  a  con- 
temporary of  Origen. 

The  notices  thus  collected  present  a  large 
body  of  evidence  establishing  the  fact  of  the 
early  and  extensive  adoption  of  episcopacy 
in  the  Christian  Church.  The  investigation, 
however,  would  not  be  complete  unless  atten- 
tion were  called  to  such  indirect  testimony 
as  is  furnished  by  the  tacit  assumptions  of 
writers  living  towards  and  at  the  close  of 
the  second  century.  Episcopacy  is  so  insep- 
arably interwoven  with  all  the  traditions  and 
beliefs  of  men  like  Irenseus  and  Tertullian, 
that  they  betray  no  knowledge  of  a  time  when 
it  was  not.  Even  Irenseus,  the  earlier  of  these, 
who  was  certainly  born  and  probably  had 
grown  up  before  the  middle  of  the  century, 
seems  to  be  wholly  ignorant  that  the  word 
bishop  had  passed  from  a  lower  to  a  higher 
value  since  the  apostolic  times.  Xor  is  it  im- 
portant only  to  observe  the  positive,  though 
indirect,  testhnony  wliich  they  afford.  Their 
silence  suggests  a  strong  negative  presumption 
that  while  every  other  point  of  doctrine  or 
practice  was  eagerly  canvassed,  the  form  of 
Church  government  alone  scarcely  came  under 
discussion. 

But  these  notices,  besides  establishing  the 


THE  CHllL'STIAN  MINISTR  Y.  81 

general  prevalence  of  episcopacy,   also  throw 
considerable  light  on  its  origin.     They  indi- 
cate that  tlie  solution  suggested  by  the  history 
of  the  word   'Mjishop"   and   its   transference 
from  the  lower  to  the  higher  office,  is  the  true 
solution,  and  that  the  episcopate  was  created 
out  of  the  presbytery.     They  show  that  this 
creation  was  not  so  much  an  isolated  act  as  a 
progressive  development,  not  advancing  every- 
where at  an  uniform  rate,  but  exhibiting  at 
one  and    the  same   time   diiferent   stages    of 
grov/th  in  diiferent  churches.     They  seem  to 
hint  also  that,  so  far  as  this  development  was 
affected  at  all  by  national  temper  and  charac- 
teristics, it  was  slower  where  the  prevaihng 
inlluences  were  more  purely  Greek,  as  at  Cor- 
inth and  Philipjn  and  Eome  ;  and  more  rapid 
where  an  Oriental  spirit  predominated,  as  at 
Jerusalem  and  Antioch  and  Ephesus.     Above 
all,  they  establish  tliis  result   clearly,  that   its 
maturer  forms  are  seen  iirst  in  those  regions 
where    the    latest    surviving    apostles   (more 
especially  St.  John)  fixed  their  abode,  and  at 
a  time  when  its  prevalence  cannot  be  dissoci- 
ated from  their  influence  or  their  sanction. 

The  original  relation  of  the  bishop  to  the 
presbyter,  Avhicli  this  investigation  reveals, 
was  not  forgotten  even  after  the  lapse  of  cen- 


82  THt:  aim  1^7 IAN  MINISTRY. 

turies.  Tlioiigli  set  over  the  presbyters,  he 
was  still  regarded  as  in  some  sense  one  of 
them.  Irenaens  indicates  this  position  of  the 
episcopate  very  clearly.  In  his  language  a 
presbyter  is  never  designated  a  bishop,  v\diile, 
on  the  other  liand,  he  very  frequently  speaks 
of  a  bishop  as  a  presbyter.  In  other  words, 
thongh  he  views  the  episcopate  as  a  distinct 
offic3  from  the  presbytery,  he  does  not  regard 
it  as  a  distinct  order  in  the  same  sense  in  which 
the  diaconate  is  a  distinct  order.  Thus,  argu- 
ing against  the  heretics,  he  says,  "  But  when 
again  we  appeal  against  them  to  that  tradition 
which  is  derived  from  the  apostles,  which  is 
l^reserved  in  the  churches  by  successions  of 
'presbyters,  they  place  themselves  in  opposition 
to  it,  sajang  that  they,  being  wiser  not  only 
than  the  preshyters,  but  even  than  the  aj^os- 
tles,  have  discovered  the  genuine  truth. ' '  Yet 
just  below,  after  again  mentioning  the  apos- 
tolic tradition,  he  adds,  ''  We  are  able  to  enu- 
merate those  who  have  been  aj^pointed  by 
the  apostles  hishops  in  the  churches,  and  their 
successors,  do^vn  to  our  own  time  ;"  and  still 
further,  after  saying  that  it  would  take  up  too 
much  space  if  he  were  to  trace  the  succes- 
sion in  all  the  churches,  he  declares  that  \.e 
will  confound  his  opponents  by  singling  out 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  83 

the  ancient  and  renowned  Clinrcli  of  Rome, 
founded  by  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and 
will  point  out  the  tradition  handed  down  to 
his  own  time  ' '  by  the  succession  of  hisJiops, ' ' 
after  which  he  gives  a  list  from  Linus  to  Eleu- 
therus.  So  again  in  another  j)assage  he  writes, 
' '  Therefore  obedience  ought  to  be  rendered  to 
the  jpresbyters  who  are  in  the  churches,  who 
have  the  succession  from  the  apostles,  as  we 
have  shown,  who  w^ith  the  succession  of  tlie 
episcOjpate  have  also  received  the  sure  grace 
of  truth  according  to  the  pleasures  of  the 
Father  ;"  after  which  he  mentions  some  ' '  who 
are  believed  by  many  to  be  jpTesbijteTS^  but 
serve  tlieir  own  lusts  and  are  elated  with 
the  pomp  of  the  chief  seat,^^  and  bids  his 
readers  shun  tliese,  and  seek  such  as  ''  together 
with  the  rank  of  the  presbyteri/  show  their 
speech  sound  and  their  conversation  void  of 
oifence, ' '  adding  of  these  latter,  ' '  Such  presby- 
ters the  Church  nurtures  and  rears,  concern- 
ing wdiom  also  the  prophet  saith,  '  I  will  give 
thy  rulers  in  peace  and  thy  hishoi^s  in  righte- 
ousness. '  ' '  Thus,  also,  writing  to  Yictor  of 
Rome  in  the  name  of  the  Galilean  churches, 
he  says,  ''  It  was  not  so  observed  by  ihep^^es- 
hyters  before  Soter,  who  ruled  the  Church 
which  thou  now  guidest— we  mean  Anicetus 


84  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

and  Pius,  Ilvginns  and  Telespliorus  and  Xys- 
tiis. "  And  the  same  estimate  of  the  office 
appears  in  Clement  of  Alexandria  ;  for,  while 
he  speaks  elsewhere  of  tlie  three  offices  in  the 
ministry,  mentioning  them  by  name,  he  in 
one  passage  puts  forward  a  twofold  division — 
the  presbyters  whose  duty  it  is  to  iinprove., 
and  the  deacons  whose  duty  it  is  to  serve^  the 
Church.  The  functions  of  the  bishop  and 
presbyter  are  thus  regarded  as  substantially 
the  same  in  kind,  though  different  in  degree, 
while  the  functions  of  the  diaconate  are  sej)a- 
rate  from  both.  More  than  a  century  and  a 
half  later,  this  view  is  put  forward  with  the 
greatest  distinctness  by  the  most  learned  and  the 
most  illustrious  of  the  Latin  fathers.  "  There 
is  one  ordination,"  writes  the  commentator 
Hilary,  "  of  the  bishop  and  the  presbyter  ;  for 
either  is  a  priest,  but  the  bishoi^  is  iirst. 
Every  bishop  is  a  presbyter,  but  every  presbyter 
is  not  a  bishop  ;  for  he  is  bishop  who  is  hrst 
among  the  presbyters."  The  language  of  St. 
Jerome  to  the  same  effect  has  been  cpioted 
above.  To  the  passages  there  given  may  be 
added  the  following  :  "  This  has  been  said  to 
show  that  with  the  ancients  presbyters  were 
the  same  as  bishops  ;  but  gradually  all  tliK?* 
responsibility  was  deferred  to  a   single  person, 


THE  CHRHSTIAN  MINISTRY.  S'') 

jhat  the  thickets  of  heresies  might  be  rooted 
out.  Therefore  as  presbyters  know  that  by 
the  custom  of  the  Church  thej  are  subject  to 
him  who  shall  have  been  set  over  them,  so  let 
bishops  also  be  aware  that  thev  are  superior 
to  presbyters  miore  owing  to  custom  than  to 
any  actual  ordinance  of  the  JLord^  etc. :  Let  us 
see  therefore  what  sort  of  person  ought  to  be 
ordained  presbyter  or  bishop."  In  the  same 
spirit,  too,  the  great  Augustine,  writing  to 
Jerome,  says,  "  Although  according  to  titles  of 
honor,  which  the  practice  of  the  Church  has 
now  r)iade  valid^  the  episcopate  is  greater  than 
the  presbytery,  yet  in  many  things  Augustine 
is  less  than  Jerome."  To  these  fathers  this 
view  seemed  to  be  an  obvious  deduction  from 
the  identity  of  the  terms  "  bishop"  and  "  pres- 
byter" in  the  apostolic  writings  ;  nor  indeed, 
when  they  wrote,  had  usage  entirely  effaced 
the  original  connection  between  the  two 
offices.  Even  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries, 
wdien  the  independence  and  power  of  the  ej^is- 
coj^ate  had  reached  its  maximum,  it  was  still 
customary  for  a  bishop  in  writing  to  a  presby- 
ter to  address  him  as  "  fellow-presbyter,"  thus 
bearing  testimony  to  a  substantial  identity 
of  order.  N'or  does  it  appear  that  this  view 
was  ever  questioned  until  the  era  of  the  Kef- 


86  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

onnation.  In  tlie  western  Church,  at  all 
events,  it  cai'ried  the  sanction  of  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  authorities,  and  was  maintained 
even  by  popes  and  councils. 

Nor  was  it  only  in  the  language  of  the  later 
Church  that  the  memory  of  this  fact  was  pre- 
served. Even  in  her  practice  indications 
might  here  and  there  be  traced  which  pointed 
to  a  time  when  the  bishop  was  still  only  the 
chief  member  of  the  presbytery.  The  case  of 
the  Alexandrian  Church,  which  has  already 
been  mentioned  casually,  deserves  special 
notice.  St.  Jerome,  after  denouncing  the 
audacity  of  certain  persons  who  ''  would  give 
to  deacons  the  precedence  over  presbyters, 
that  is  over  bishops,"  and  alleging  scriptural 
proofs  of  the  identity  of  the  two,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing fact  in  illustration  :  "At  Alexandria, 
from  Mark  the  Evangelist  down  to  the  times  of 
the  bishops  Ileraclas  (a.d.  233-249)  and  Dio- 
nysius  (a.d.  2-1:9-265),  the  presbyters  always 
nominated  as  bishop  one  chosen  out  of  their 
owm  body  and  placed  in  a  higher  grade  :  just 
as  if  an  army  were  to  appoint-  a  general,  or 
deacons  were  to  choose  from  their  own  body 
one  whom  they  knew  to  be  diligent,  and  call 
him  archdeacon."  Though  the  direct  state"* 
ment  of  this  father  refers  only  to  the  appoint- 


THE  CHlilSTIAN  MimSTRY.  87 

m£7it  of  tli'3  bisliop,  still  it  may  be  inferred 
that  the  function  of  the  presbyters  extended 
also  to  the  coiisecration.     And  this  inference 
is  borne  out  by  other  evidence.      ' '  In  Egypt, ' ' 
writes  an  older  contemporary  of  St.    Jerome, 
the  connnentator  Hilary,  ''  the  presbyters  seal 
{i.e.,  ordain   or  consecrate)  if  the  bishop  be 
not  present. ' '    This,  however,  might  refer  only 
to   the   ordination  of   presbyters,  and   not  to 
the  consecration  of  a  bishop.     But  even  the 
latter  is  supported  by  direct  evidence,  which 
though    comparatively    late    deserves  consid- 
eration, inasmuch  as  it  comes  from   one  who 
was  himself  a  patriarch  of  Alexandria.     Euty- 
chius,  who  held  the  patriarchal  see  from  a.d. 
933  to  A.D.   940,   writes  as  follows:     ''The 
Evangelist    Mark  appointed    along  with  the 
patriarch  Hananias    twelve    presbyters    who 
should  remain  with  the  patriarch,  to  the  end 
that,  when  the  patriarchate  was  vacant,  they 
might  choose  one  of  the  twelve  presbyters,   • 
on  whose  head  the  remaining  eleven  laying 
their  hands  should  bless  him  'and  create  \\\m 
patriarch."     The  vacant  place  in  the  presby- 
tery was  then  to  be  filled  up,  tliat  the  number 
twelve  might  be  constant.      "  This  custom," 
adds  this  writer,  "  did  not  cease  till  tlie  time 
of   Alexander   (a.d.    313-326),    patriarch    of 


88  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

Alexandria.  He,  however,  forbade  that  t  enee- 
fortli  the  presbyters  should  create  the  patri- 
arch, and  decreed  that  on  the  death  of  the 
patriarch  the  bishops  should  meet  to  ordain  the 
(new)  j^atriar  h,''  etc.  It  is  clear  from  this 
passage  that  Eutychius  considered  tlie  func- 
tions of  nomination  and  ordination  to  rest 
with  the  same  persons. 

If  this  view,  however,  be  correct,  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Alexandrian  Church  was  excep- 
tional ;  for  at  this  time  the  formal  act  of  the 
bishop  was  considered  generally  necessary  to 
give  vahdity  to  ordination.  Xor  is  the  ex- 
ception difficult  to  account  for.  At  the  close 
of  the  second  century,  when  every  consider- 
able church  in  Europe  and  Asia  ajDpears  to 
have  had  its  bishop,  the  only  representative  of 
the  episcopal  order  in  Egypt  w^as  the  Bishop 
of  Alexandria.  It  was  Demetrius  first  (a.d. 
190-233),  as  Eutychius  informs  us,  who  ap- 
pointed three  other  bishops,  to  which  number 
his  successor  Heraclas  (a.d.  233-2-19)  added 
twenty  more.  This  extension  of  episcopacy 
to  the  provincial  towms  of  Egypt  ^^aved  the 
way  for  a  change  in  the  mode  of  ajDpointing 
and  ordaining  the  patriarch  of  Alexandria. 
But  before  this  time  it  was  a  matter  of  coii*- 
venience    and    almost  of    necessitv  that    the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  89 

Alexandrian    presbyters     should     themselves 
ordain  their  chief. 

ISTor  is  it  only  in  Alexandria  that  we  meet 
with  this  peculiarity.  Where  the  same  urgent 
reason  existed,  the  same  exceptional  practice 
seems  to  have  been  tolerated.  A  decree  of  the 
Council  of  Ancyra  (a.d.  31-1:)  ordains  that  '^  it 
be  not  allowed  to  country-bishops  (;if cc9pf7rz(7;^o- 
7toL<;^  to  ordain  presbyters  or  deacons,  nor  even 
to  city-presbyters,  except  permission  be  given 
in  each  parish  by  the  bishop  in  writing. ' '  Thus 
while  restraining  the  existing  license,  the  fram- 
ers  of  the  decree  still  allow  very  considerable 
latitude.  And  it  is  especially  important  to 
observe  that  they  lay  more  stress  on  episcopal 
sanction  than  on  episcopal  ordination.  Pro- 
vided that  the  former  is  secured,  they  are  con- 
tent to  dispense  with  the  latter. 

As  a  general  rule,  however,  even  those  writ- 
ers who  maintain  a  substantial  identity  in  the 
offices  of  the  bishop  and  presbyter  reserve  the 
power  of  ordaining  to  t\vQ  former.  This  dis- 
tinction in  fact  may  be  regarded  as  a  settled 
maxim  of  Church  polity  in  the  fourth  and 
later  centuries.  And  when  Aerius  maintained 
the  equality  of  the  bishop  and  presbyter, 
and  denied  the  necessity  of  episcopal  ordi- 
nation, his  opinion  was  condemned  as  hereti- 


90  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

cal,  and  is  stigmatized  as   "  frantic"   by  Epi- 
plianiiis. 

It  has  been  seen  that  the  institution  of  an 
episcopate  mnst  be  placed  as  far  back  as  the 
closing  years  of  the  first  century,  and  that 
it  cannot,  without  violence  to  historical  tes- 
timony, be  dissevered  from  the  name  of  St. 
John.  But  it  has  been  seen  also  that  the  ear- 
liest bishops  did  not  hold  the  same  independ- 
ent position  of  supremacy  which  was  and  is 
occupied  by  their  later  representatives.  It 
will  therefore  be  instructive  to  trace  the  suc- 
cessive stages  by  which  the  power  of  the  office 
Avas  developed  during  the  second  and  third 
centuries.  Thouo^h  somethino^  must  be  attrib- 
uted  to  the  frailty  of  human  pride  and  love  of 
power,  it  will  nevertheless  appear  that  the 
pressing  needs  of  tlie  Church  were  mainly  in- 
strumental in  bringing  about  the  result,  and 
that  this  development  of  the  episcopal  office 
.was  a  providential  safeguard  amid  the  confu- 
sion of  speculative  opinion,  the  distracting  ef- 
fects of  persecution,  and  the  growing  anarchy 
of  social  life,  which  threatened  not  only  the 
extension  but  the  very  existence  of  the  Church 
of  Christ.  Ambition  of  office  in  a  society 
where    prominence  of  rank  involved  prom?* 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  91 

nence  of  risk  was  at  least  no  vulgar  and  selHsli 
passion. 

This  development  will  be  conveniently  con- 
nected with  three  great  names,  each  separated 
from  the  other  by  an  interval  of  more  than 
half  a  century,  and  each  marking  a  distinct 
stage  in  its  progress.  Ignatius,  Irenseus,  and 
Cyprian  represent  three  successive  advances 
towards  the  supremacy  which  was  ultimately 
attained. 

1.  Ignatius  of  Antiocli  is  commonly  recog- 
nized as  the  stanchest  advocate  of  episcopacy 
in  the  early  ages.  Though  the  strength  and 
prevalence  of  this  view  is  doubtless  due  in 
great  measure  to  tlie  forged  and  interj)olated 
epistles  bearing  his  name,  it  is  nevertheless 
sufficiently  justified  by  his  authentic  letters. 
Xor  indeed  would  a  falsifier  have  adopted  his 
mask,  nnless  the  genuine  writings  or  tradi- 
tional opinions  of  this  early  martyr  had  given 
countenance  to  the  forgery.  To  St.  Ignatius 
the  chief  value  of  episcopacy  lies  in  this,  tliat 
it  constitutes  a  visible  centre  of  unity  in  the 
congregation.  He  seems  in  the  development 
of  the  office  to  kee]3  in  view  the  same  purpose 
which  we  may  suppose  to  have  influenced  the 
last  surviving  apostles  in  its  institution.  The 
withdrawal  of  the  authoritative  preachers  of 


02  THE  CllUlSTrAX  MINISTUY. 

the  Gospel,  the  personal  disciples  of  the  Lord, 
had  severed  one  bond  of  union.  The  destruc- 
tion of  the  original  abode  of  Christendom,  the 
scene  of  the  life  and  passion  of  the  Saviour 
and  of  the  earliest  triumphs  of  the  Church, 
had  removed  another.  Thus  deprived  at  once 
of  the  personal  and  the  local  ties  which  had 
hitherto  bound  individual  to  individual  and 
church  to  church,  the  Christian  brotherhood 
was  threatened  with  schism,  disunion,  dissolu- 
tion. "  Vindicate  thine  office  with  all  dili- 
gence," writes  Ignatius  to  the  Bishop  of 
Smyrna,  "in  things  temporal  as  well  as  spiri- 
tual. Have  a  care  of  unity,  than  which  noth- 
ing is  better. "  ''The  crisis  requires  thee,  as 
the  pilot  requires  the  winds  or  the  storm- 
tossed  mariner  a  haven,  so  as  to  attain  unto 
God."  "  Let  not  those  who  seem  to  be  plau- 
sible and  teach  falsehoods  dismay  thee,  but 
stand  thou  firm  as  an  anvil  under  the  hammer  ; 
'tis  the  part  of  a  great  athlete  to  be  braised 
and  to  conquer. "  "  Let  nothing  be  done  with- 
out thy  consent,  and  do  thou  nothing  without 
the  consent  of  God."  He  adds  directions  also 
that  those  who  decide  on  a  life  of  virginity 
shall  disclose  their  intention  to  the  bishop  only,^ 
and  those  who  marry  shall  obtain  his  consent 
to  their  union,  that   "their  marriage   maybe 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  93 

according  to  tlie  Lord,  and  not  according  to 
Inst."  And  tnrning  from  the  bishop  to  the 
people  he  adds,  ''  (rive  heed  to  yonr  bishop, 
that  God  also  may  give  heed  to  yon.  I  give 
my  life  for  those  who  are  obedient  to  the 
bishop,  to  presbyters,  to  deacons.  AVith  them 
may  1  have  my  portion  in  the  presence  of 
God."  Writing  to  the  Ephesians  also,  he  says 
that  in  receiving  their  bishop  Onesimns  he  is 
receiving  their  whole  body,  and  he  charges 
them  to  love  him,  and  one  and  all  to  be  in  his 
likeness,  adding,  ''  Since  love  does  not  permit 
me  to  be  silent,  therefore  I  have  been  forward 
in  exhorting  you  to  conform  to  the  will  of 
God." 

From  these  j)assages  it  will  be-  seen  that  St. 
Ignatins  values  the  ej)iscopate  chiefly  as  a 
security  for  good  discipline  and  harmonious 
working  in  the  Church.  And  the  writer,  who 
before  or  about  the  middle  of  the  second  cen- 
tury forges  and  interpolates  the  Ignatian  let- 
ters, follows  in  the  track  of  the  saint  wdiose 
name  he  assumes  ;  while  at  the  same  time  he 
lays  greater  stress  on  the  divine  authority  of 
the  institution.  When  this  unknown  person 
wrote,  the  heresies  faintly  discerned  by  the 
genuine  Ignatius  had  grown  rampant,  and  the 
purity  of  Christian  teaching  was  seriously  en- 


94  THE  CHRISTIAN  MLYTSTRY. 

dangered.  Yet  lie  denounces  tliese  lieresies 
rather  as  a  breach  of  unity  than  as  a  falsifica- 
tion of  doctrine.  Though  perhaps  more  nearly 
a  contemj)orary  of  IreniBus  than  of  Ignatius, 
he  has  not  yet  exchanged  the  standing-point 
of  the  earlier  father  for  that  of  the  later.  But 
while  he  maintains  the  same  aspect  of  episco- 
pacy with  the  true  Ignatius,  he  uses  extrava- 
gant language  which  has  no  parallel  in  the 
genuine  letters  of  the  saint.  Throughout  the 
Avhole  range  of  Christian  literature  no  more 
uncompromising  advocate  of  episcopacy  can  be 
found.  His  advocacy  indeed  is  extended  to 
the  two  lower  orders  of  the  ministry,  more 
especially  to  the  presbyters.  But  it  is  when 
asserting  the  claims  of  the  episcopal  office  to 
obedience  and  respect  that  his  language  is 
strained  to  the  utmost.  ''  The  bishops  estab- 
lished in  the  farthest  parts  of  the  world  are  in 
the  counsel  of  Jesus  Christ."  "Every  one 
whom  the  Master  of  the  house  sendeth  to  gov- 
ern His  own  household  we  ought  to  receive, 
as  Him  that  sent  him  ;  clearly  therefore  we 
ought  to  regard  the  bishop  as  the  Lord  him- 
self." Those  "  hve  a  hfe  after  Christ"  who 
"  obey  the  bishop  as  Jesus  Christ."  "It  is 
good  to  know  God  and  the  bishop  ;  he  that 
honoreth  the  bishop  is  honored  of  Clod  ;  he 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  95 

that  doeth  any  thing  withont  the  knowledge  of 
the  bishop  serveth  the  devil."  He  that  obeys 
his  bishop,  obeys  ''  not  him,  bnt  the  Father  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Bishop  of  all. ' '  On  the  other 
hand,  he  that  practises  hypocrisy  towards  his 
bishop,  "not  only  deceiveth  the  visible  one, 
but  cheateth  the  Unseen. "  '  ^  As  many  as  are 
of  God  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  are  with  the 
Bishop. ' '  Those  are  approved  who  are  ' '  insep- 
arate  from  Grod,  from  Jesus  Christ,  and  from 
the  bishoj),  and  from  the  ordinances  of  the 
apostles. "  "  Do  ye  all, ' '  says  this  writer  again, 
"  follow  the  bishop,  as  Jesus  Christ  followed 
the  Father. ' '  The  Ephesians  are  commended 
accordingly,  because  they  are  so  united  with 
their  bishop  ."as  the  Church  with  Jesus 
Christ,  and  as  Jesus  Christ  with  the  Father." 
"If,"  it  is  added,  "  the  prayer  of  one  or  two 
hath  so  much  powder,  how  much  more  the 
prayer  of  the  bishop  and  of  the  whole  Church. ' ' 
' '  Wherever  the  bishop  may  appear,  there  let 
the  multitude  be,  just  as  where  Jesus  Christ 
maybe,  there  is  the  Catholic  Church."  There- 
fore ' '  let  no  man  do  any  thing  pertaining  to 
the  Church  without  the  bishop. "  "  It  is  not 
allowable  either  to  baptize  or  to  hold  a  love- 
feast  without  the  bishop  ;  but  whatsoever  he 
may  approve,  this  also  is  well  pleasing  to  God, 


96  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

that  every  thing  which  is  done  may  be  safe  and 
vahd."  '' Unity  of  God, "  according  to  tliis 
writer,  consists  in  liarmonioiis  co-oj)eration 
with  the  bisho2>. 

And  yet,  with  all  this  extravagant  exaltation 
of  the  episcopal  office,  the  presbyters  are  not 
put  out  of  sight.  They  form  a  council,  a 
''  worthy  spiritual  coronal"  round  the  bishop. 
It  is  the  duty  of  every  individual,  but  espe- 
cially of  them  ' '  to  refresh  the  bishop  unto  the 
honor  of  the  Father  and  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
of  the  apostles."  They  stand  in  the  same  re- 
lation to  him  "  as  the  chords  to  the  lyre."  If 
the  bishop  occupies  the  place  of  God  or  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  presbyters  are  as  the  apostles, 
as  the  council  of  God.  If  obedience  is  due  to 
the  bishop  as  the  grace  of  God,  it  is  due  to  the 
presbytery  as  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ. 

It  need  hardly  be  remarked  how  subversive 
of  the  true  sjDirit  of  Christianity,  in  the  nega- 
tion of  individual  freedom  and  the  consequent 
suppression  of  direct  responsibility  to  God  in 
Christ,  is  the  crushing  des^^otism  with  which 
this  writer's  language,  if  taken  literally,  would 
invest  the  episcopal  office.  It  is  more  impor- 
tant to  bear  in  mind  the  extenuating  fact,  that 
the  needs  and  distractions  of  the  age  seemed 
to  call  for  a  greater  concentration  of  authority 


THE  CHRISTIAN'  MINISTRY.  97 

in  tlie  episco23ate  ;  and  we  might  well  be  sur- 
prised if  at  a  great  crisis  the  defence  of  an  all- 
important  institution  were  expressed  in  words 
carefully  weighed  and  guarded.  But  whatever 
excuse  the  exigencies  of  the  Church  may  sug- 
gest, it  is  hard  to  believe  that  this  extravagance 
w^ould  liave  received  the  sanction  of  St.  Igna- 
tius himself.  At  all  events,  there  is  a  jarring 
discord  between  the  unfeigned  humility  which 
will  not  allow  the  saint  to  command  the  Chris- 
tians of  Home  like  St.  Peter  or  St.  Paul, 
^'  for  they  are  apostles,  he  a  condemned  man, 
they  are  free,  he  a  slave  until  now,"  and  the 
lofty  assumptions  of  this  later  writer,  who  sets 
the  bishop  in  the  place  of  God  and  on  the 
throne  of  Christ. 

Strangely  enough,  about  the  time  w^hen  the 
Ignatian  interpolator  thus  asserted  the  claims 
of  the  episcopate  as  a  safeguard  of  orthodoxy, 
another  writer  was  using  similar  means  to 
advance  a  very  different  form  of  Christianity. 
The  same  organization,  which  is  thus  emj)loy- 
ed  to  consolidate  and  advance  the  Catholic 
Church,  might  serve  equally  well  to  establish 
a  compact  Ebionite  community.  I  have  already 
mentioned  the  author  of  the  Clementine  Homi- 
lies as  a  stanch  advocate  of  episcopacy.  His 
view  of  the  sanctions  and  privileges  of  the 


98  TUB  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

office  does  not  differ  materially  from  that  of 
the  Ignatian  writer.  "  The  multitude  of  the 
faithful,"  he  says,  "  must  obey  a  single  person, 
that  so  it  may  be  able  to  continue  in  harmony. ' ' 
Monarchy  is  a  necessary  condition  of  peace  ; 
this  may  be  seen  from  the  aspect  of  the  world 
around  :  at  present  there  are  many  kings,  and 
the  result  is  discord  and  war  ;  in  the  world  to 
come  God  has  appointed  one  King  only,  that 
^^  b}^  reason  of  mon.u'chy  an  indestructible 
peace  may  be  established  ;  therefore  all  ought 
to  follow  some  one  person  as  guide^  preferring 
him  in  honor  as  the  image  of  God  ;  and  this 
guide  must  show  the  way  that  leadeth  to  the 
Holy  City. ' '  Accordingly  he  dehglits  to  speak 
of  the  bishop  as  occupying  the  place  or  the  seat 
of  Christ.  Every  insult,  he  says,  and  every 
honor  offered  to  a  bishop  is  carried  to  Christ, 
and  from  Christ  is  taken  up  to  the  presence  of 
the  Father  ;  and  thus  it  is  recpiited  manifold. 
Similarly  another  writer  of  the  Clementine 
cycle,  if  he  be  not  the  same,  compares  Christ 
to  the  captain,  the  bishop  to  the  mate,  and  the 
presbyters  to  the  sailors,  while  the  lower  orders 
and  the  laity  have  each  their  proper  place  in 
the  ship  of  the  Church. 

It  is  no  surpi'ise  that  such  exti*avagant  clainiS 
should  not  have  been  allowed  to  pass  uncliab 


THE  CHRISTIAN  31imSTRY.  99 

lengfed.  About  the  same  time  when  these 
lofty  hierarchical  pretensions  were  advanced 
on  the  one  hand  in  the  Ignatian  letters  on  be- 
half of  Catholicism,  and  on  the  other  by  the 
Clementine  winters  in  the  interests  of  Ebion- 
ism,  a  strong  spiritualist  reaction  set  in.  If  in 
its  mental  aspect  the  heresy  of  Montanns  must 
be  regarded  as  a  protest  against  the  speculative 
subtleties  of  Gnosticism,  on  its  practical  side 
it  was  equally  a  rebound  from  the  aggressive 
tyranny  of  hierarchical  assumption.  Montanus 
taught  that  the  true  succession  of  the  Spirit, 
the  authorized  channel  of  divine  grace,  must 
be  sought  not  in  the  hierarchical,  but  in  the 
prophetic  order.  For  a  rigid  outward  system 
he  substituted  the  free  inward  impulse.  Wildly 
fanatical  as  were  its  manifestations,  this  reaction 
nevertheless  issued  from  a  true  instinct  which 
rebelled  against  the  oppressive  yoke  of  external 
tradition  and  did  battle  for  the  freedom  of  the 
individual  spirit.  Montanus  was  excommuni- 
cated and  Montanism  died  out ;  but  though 
dead,  it  yet  spake  ;  for  a  portion  of  its  better 
spirit  was  infused  into  the  Catholic  Church, 
which  it  leavened  and  refreshed  and  invigor- 
ated. 

2.  Irengeus  follows  Ignatius  after  an  inter- 
val of  about  two  generations.     With  the  al- 


100  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

tered  circumstances  of  the  Clmrch,  the  aspect 
of  the  episcopal  office  has  also  undergone  a 
change.  The  religions  atmos2:)here  is  now 
charged  with  heretical  speculations  of  all  kinds. 
Amidst  the  competition  of  rival  teachers,  all 
eagerly  bidding  for  support,  the  perplexed 
believer  asks  for  some  decisive  test  by  which 
he  may  try  the  claims  of  the  disputants.  To 
this  question  Irenseus  supplies  an  answer.  "  If 
you  wish,"  he  argues,  "  to  ascertain  the  doc- 
trine of  the  apostles,  apply  to  the  Church  of  the 
apostles.  In  the  succession  of  bishops  tracing 
their  descent  from  the  primitive  age  and  ap- 
pointed by  the  apostles  themselves,  you  have 
a  guarantee  for  the  transmission  of  the  pure 
faith,  which  no  isolated,  upstart,  self -constitu- 
ted teacher  can  furnish.  There  is  the  Church 
of  Eome,  for  instance,  w^hose  episcopal  pedi- 
gree is  perfect  in  all  its  links,  and  whose  ear- 
liest bishops,  Linus  and  Clement,  associated 
with  the  apostles  themselves  ;  there  is  the 
Church  of  SmjTua  again,  whose  bishop,  Poly- 
carp,  the  disciple  of  St.  John,  died  only  the 
other  day. ' '  Thus  the  episco^^ate  is  regarded 
now  not  so  much  as  the  centre  of  ecclesiastical 
unity,  but  rather  as  the  depositary  of  ajpostolio 
tradition.  ^ 

This  view  is  not  peculiar  to  Irenseus.     It 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTUT.  101 

seems  to  have  been  advanced  earlier  by  Hege- 
sippus,  for   in   a  detached  fragment   he   la^^s 
stress  on  the  succession  of  the  bishops  at  Home 
and   at  Corinth,  adding  that  in  each  church 
and  in  each  succession  the  pure  faith  was  pre- 
served ;  so  that  he  seems  here  to  be  controvert- 
ing  that   "gnosis    falsely   so   called"    which 
elsewhere  he  denounces.     \i  is  distinctly  main- 
tained by  Tertullian,  the  younger  contempo- 
rary of  Irengeus,  who  refers,  if  not  with  the 
same  frequency,  at  least  with  equal  emphasis, 
to  the  tradition  of  the  apostolic  churches  as 
preserved  by  the  succession  of  the  episcopate. 
3.  As  two  generations  intervened  between 
Ignatius  and   Irengeus,    so   the   same   period, 
roughly  speaking,  separates  Irenaeus  from  Cyp- 
rian,    If  with  Ignatius  the  bishop  is  the  centre 
of  Christian  unity,  if  with  Irengeus  he  is  the 
depositary  of  the  apostolic  tradition,  with  Cyp- 
rian he  is  the  absolute  vicegerent  of  Christ  in 
things  spiritual.     In  mere  language,   indeed, 
it  would   be  difficult  to  surpass  the  Ignatian 
writer,  who  probably  lived  a  century  earlier. 
With  the  single  exception  of  the  sacerdotal 
view   of   the   ministry  which  had  grown   up 
meanwhile,  Cyprian  puts  forward  no  assump- 
tion which  this  writer  had  not  advanced  either 
literally  or  substantially  long   before^       This 


10;^  THE  CIIllISTIAN  MINISTRT. 

one  exception,  however,  is  all  important,  for 
it  raised  the  sanctions  of  the  e23iscopate  to  a 
higher  level,  and  put  new  force  into  old  titles 
of  respect.  Theoretically,  therefore,  it  may  he 
said  that  Cyprian  took  his  stand  on  the  conihi- 
nation  of  the  ecclesiastical  authority,  as  asserted 
by  the  Ignatian  writer,  with  the  sacerdotal 
claim  which  had  been  developed  in  the  half 
century  just  past.  But  the  real  influence  which 
he  exercised  in  the  elevation  of  the  episcopate 
consisted  not  in  the  novelty  of  his  theoretical 
views,  but  in  his  practical  energy  and  success. 
The  absolute  supremacy  of  the  bishop  had  re- 
mained hitherto  a  lofty  title,  or  at  least  a  vague, 
ill-deflned  assumption  :  it  became  through  his 
exertions  a  substantial  and  patent  and  world- 
wide fact.  The  iirst  prelate  wdiose  force  of  char- 
acter vibrated  throughout  the  wdiole  of  Chris- 
tendom, he  was  driven  not  less  by  the  circum- 
stances of  his  position  than  by  his  own  temper- 
ament and  conviction  to  throw  all  his  energy 
into  this  scale.  And  the  permanent  result 
was  much  vaster  than  he  could  have  anticipated 
beforehand  or  realized  after  the  fact.  Forced 
into  the  episcopate  against  his  will,  he  raised 
it  to  a  position  of  absolute  independence,  from 
which  it  has  never  since  been  deposed.  TlJfe 
two  great  controversies  in  which  Cyprian  en- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINI8TUY.  103 

gaged,  though  immediately  arising  out  of 
questions  of  discipline,  combined  from  opposite 
sides  to  consolidate  and  enhance  the  power  of 
the  bishops. 

The  first  question  of  dispute  concerned  the 
treatment  of   such  as  had  lapsed  during  tlie 
recent   persecution  under   Decius.       Cyprian 
found  himself  on  this  occasion  doing  battle  for 
the  episcopate  against  a  twofold    opposition, 
against  the  confessors  who  claimed  the  right 
of  absolving  and  restoring  these  fallen  breth- 
ren, and  against  his  own  presbyters,   who,  in 
the   absence   of    their  bishop,  supported  the 
claims  of  the  confessors.     From  his  retirement 
he  launched  his  shafts  against  this  combined 
array,  where  an  aristocracy  of  moral  influence 
was  leagued  with  an  aristocracy  of  oflicial  po- 
sition.    With  signal  determination  and  cour- 
age in  pursuing  his  aim,  and  with  not  less  sa^ 
gacity  and  address  in  discerning  the  means  for 
carrying  it  out,  Cyprian  had  on  this  occasion 
the  further  advantage  that  he  was  defending 
the  cause  of  order  and  right.     He  succeeded, 
moreover,  in  enlisting  in  his  cause  the  rulers 
of  the  most  powerful  church  in   Christendom. 
The  Eoman  clergy  declared  for  the  bishop  and 
against  the  presbyters  of  Carthage.     Of  Cyp- 
rian's sincerity  no  reasonable  question  can  be 


104  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

entertained.  In  maintaining  the  autliority  of 
liis  office,  lie  believed  himself  to  be  fighting 
his  Master's  battle,  and  he  sought  success  as 
the  only  safeguard  of  the  integrity  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  In  this  lofty  and  disin- 
terested spirit,  and  with  these  advantages  of 
position,  he  entered  upon  the  contest. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  my  purpose  to  follow 
out  the  conflict  in  detail  ;  to  show  how  ulti- 
mately the  positions  of  the  two  combatants 
were  shifted,  so  that  from  maintaining  disci- 
pline against  the  champions  of  too  great  laxity, 
Cyprian  found  himself  protecting  the  fallen 
against  the  advocates  of  too  great  severity  ; 
to  trace  the  progress  of  the  schism  and  the  at- 
tempt to  establish  a  rival  episcopate  ;  or  to  un- 
ravel the  entanglements  of  the  Novatian  con- 
troversy and  lay  open  the  intricate  relations 
between  Rome  and  Carthage.  It  is  sufficient 
to  say  that  Cyprian's  victory  was  complete. 
He  triumphed  over  the  confessors,  triumphed 
over  his  own  presbyters,  triumj^hed  over  the 
schismatical  bishop  and  his  party.  It  was  the 
most  signal  success  hitherto  achieved  for  the 
episcopate,  because  the  battle  had  been  fought 
and  the  victory  won  on  this  definite  issue.  The 
absolute  supremacy  of  the  episcopal  office  was 
thus   established  against  the  two  antagonists 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY,  105 

from  which  it  had  most  to  fear,  against  a 
recognized  aristocracy  of  ecclesiastical  office 
and  an  irregular  hut  not  less  powerful  aristoc- 
racy of  moral  weight. 

The  position  of  the  bishop  with  resj^ect  to 
the  individual  church  over  which  he  ruled  was 
thus  defined  by  the  first  contest  in  which  Cyp- 
rian eno^ap^ed.  The  second  conflict  resulted 
in  determinino^  his  relation  to  the  Church  uni- 
versal.  The  schism  w^hich  had  grown  up  dur- 
ing the  first  conflict  created  the  difficulty 
which  gave  occasion  to  the  second.  A  cpies- 
tion  arose  whether  baptism  by  heretics  and 
schismatics  should  be  held  valid  or  not. 
Stephen,  the  Roman  bishop,  j)leading  the  im- 
memorial custom  of  his  church,  recognized  its 
validity.  Cyprian  insisted  on  rebaptism  in 
such  cases.  Hitherto  the  Bishop  of  Carthage 
had  acted  in  cordial  harmony  with  Rome  ;  but 
now  there  was  a  colHsion.  Stephen,  inherit- 
ing the  haughty  temper  and  aggressive  policy 
of  his  earlier  predecessor  Yictor,  exconnnuni- 
cated  those  who  differed  from  the  Roman 
usage  in  this  matter.  These  arrogant  assumj)- 
tions  were  directly  met  by  Cyprian.  He  sum- 
moned first  one  and  then  another  synod  of 
African  bishops,  Avho  declared  in  his  favor. 
He  had  on  his  side  also  the  churches  of  Asia 


106  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

Minor,  wjiicli  had  been  included  in  Stephen's 
edict  of  excomnmnication.  Thns  the  bolt 
hurled  bv  Stephen  fell  innocuous,  and  the 
churches  of  Africa  and  Asia  retained  their 
practice.  The  principle  asserted  in  the  strug- 
gle was  not  unimportant.  As  in  the  former 
conflict  Cjprian  had  maintained  the  indepen- 
dent supremacy  of  the  bishop  over  the  officers 
and  members  of  his  own  congregation,  so  now 
he  contended  successfully  for  his  immunity 
from  any  interference  from  without.  At  a 
later  period  indeed,  Rome  carried  the  victory, 
but  the  immediate  result  of  this  controversy 
w^as  to  establish  the  independence  and  enhance 
the  power  of  the  episcopate.  Moreover,  this 
struggle  had  the  further  and  not  less  impor- 
tant consequence  of  defining  and  exhibiting 
the  relations  of  the  episcopate  to  the  Church 
in  another  way.  As  the  individual  bishop  had 
been  pronounced  indispensable  to  the  existence 
of  the  individual  community,  so  the  episcopal 
order  was  now  put  forward  as  the  absolute 
indefeasible  representative  of  the  universal 
Church.  Synods  of  bishops  indeed  had  been 
held  frequently  before  ;  but  under  Cyprian's 
guidance  they  assumed  a  prominence  which 
threw  all  existing  precedents  into  the  shaae. 
A  "  one  undivided  episcojDate"  was  his  watch- 


THE  GHMISTIAN  MINISTET.  107 

word.  The  unity  of  the  Church,  he  main- 
tained, consists  in  the  unanimity  of  the 
bishops.  In  this  controversy,  as  in  the  for- 
mer, he  acted  throughout  on  the  j^rinciple,  dis- 
tinctly asserted,  that  the  existence  of  the  epis- 
copal office  was  not  a  matter  of  practical  advan- 
tage or  ecclesiastical  rule,  or  even  of  apostolic 
sanction,  but  an  absolute  incontrovertible  de- 
cree of  God.  The  triumph  of  Cyprian  there- 
fore was  the  triumph  of  this  principle. 

The  greatness  of  Cyprian's  influence  on  the 
episcopate  is  indeed  due  to  this  fact,  that  with 
him  the  statement  of  the  principle  precedes 
and  necessitates  the  j)ractical  measures.  Of 
the  sharpness  and  distinctness  of  his  sacerdotal 
views  it  will  be  time  to  speak  presently  ;  but 
of  his  conception  of  the  episcopal  office  gener- 
ally thus  much  may  be  said  here  that  he  re- 
gards the  bishop  as  exclusively  the  representa- 
tive of  God  to  the  congregation,  and  hardly,  if 
at  all,  as  the  representative  of  the  congregation 
before  God.  The  bishop  is  the  indispensable 
channel  of  divine  grace,  the  indispensable  bond 
of  Christian  brotherhood.  The  episcopate  is 
not  so  much  the  roof  as  the  foundation-stone 
of  the  ecclesiastical  edifice  ;  not  so  much  the 
legitimate  development  as  the  primary  condi- 
tion of  a  church.     The  bishop  is  appointed  di- 


108  THE  CEBISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

rectly  by  God,  is  responsible  directly  to  God, 
is  inspired  directly  from  God.  This  last  point 
deserves  especial  notice.  Tlioiigli  in  words  lie 
frequently  defers  to  the  established  nsage  of 
consulting  the/  presbyters  and  even  the  laity 
in  the  appointment  of  officers  and  in  other 
matters  affecting  the  well-being  of  the  commu- 
nity, yet  he  only  makes  the  concession  to  nul- 
lify it  immediately.  He  pleads  a  direct  official 
inspiration,  wliich  enables  him  to  dispense  with 
ecclesiastical  custom  and  to  act  on  his  own  re- 
sponsibility. Though  the  presbyters  may  still 
have  retained  the  shadow  of  a  controlling  power 
over  the  acts  of  the  bishop,  though  the  cour- 
tesy of  language  by  which  they  Avere  recognized 
as  fellow-presbyters  was  not  laid  aside,  yet  for 
all  practical  ends  the  independent  supremacy  of 
the  episco])ate  was  completely  estal>lished  by 
the  j^rinciples  and  the  measures  of  Cj^rian. 

In  the  investigation  just  concluded  I  have 
endeavored  to  trace  the  changes  in  the  relative 
position  of  the  first  and  second  orders  of  the 
ministry,  by  which  the  power  was  gradually 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  former.  Such 
a  development  involves  no  new  princi2:)le,  and 
must  be  regarded  chiefiy  in  its  practical  bear- 
ings.    It  is  plainly  competent  for  the  Church, 


THE  GHRISriAN  MINISTRY.  102 

at  any  given  time,  to  entrust  a  particular  of- 
fice with  larger  powers,  as  the  emergency  may 
require.  And,  though  the  grounds  on  which 
the  indejDendent  authority  of  the  episcopate 
was  ac  times  defended  may  have  been  false  or 
exaggerated,  no  reasonable  objection  can  be 
taken  to  later  forms  of  ecclesiastical  polity  be- 
cause the  measure  of  power  accorded  to  the 
bishop  does  not  remain  exactly  the  same  as  in 
the  Church  of  the  subapostolic  ages,  l^ay,  to 
many  thoughtful  and  dispassionate  minds,  even 
the  gigantic  power  wielded  by  the  popes  dur- 
ing the  middle  ages  mil  appear  justifiable  in 
itself  (though  they  will  repudiate  the  false  pre- 
tensions on  whicli  it  was  founded,  and  the 
false  opinions  wdiich  were  associated*with  it), 
since  only  by  such  a  providential  concentration 
of  authority  could  the  Church,  humanly  speak- 
ing, have  braved  the  storms  of  those  ages  of 
anarchy  and  violence.  J^ow,  however,  it  is 
my  purpose  to  investigate  the  origin  and 
growth  of  a  new  principle,  wdiich  is  nowhere 
enunciated  in  the  I^ew  Testament,  but  w^hich, 
notwithstanding,  has  worked  its  way  into  gen- 
eral recognition,  and  seriously  modihed  the 
character  of  later  Christianity.  The  progress 
of  the  sacerdotal  view  of  the  ministry  is  one  of 


110  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

the  most   striking  and  important  phenomena, 
in  the  history  of  the  Church. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  ah'cadv  that  the  sa- 
cerdotal functions  and  j^rivileges,  which  ah)ne 
are  mentioned  in  the  apostohc  writings,  per- 
tain to  all  believers  alike,  and  do  not  refer 
solely  or  specially  to  the  ministerial  office.  If 
to  this  statement  it  be  objected  that  the  infer- 
ence is  built  upon  the  silence  of  the  apostles 
and  evangelists,  and  that  such  reasoning  is  al- 
ways precarious,  the  reply  is,  that  an  exclusive 
sacerdotalism  (as  the  word  is  commonly  under- 
stood) contradicts  the  general  tenor  of  the 
Gospel.  But-  indeed  the  strength  or  weakness 
of  an  argument  drawn  from  silence  depends 
wholly  on  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
silence  is  maintained.  And  in  this  case  it  can- 
not be  considered  devoid  of  weight.  In  the 
Pastoral  Ej^istles,  for  instance, which  are  largely 
occupied  with  questions  relating  to  the  Chris- 
tian ministr}^,  it  seems  scarcely  possible  that 
this  aspect  should  have  been  overlooked,  if  it 
had  any  place  in  St.  Paul's  teaching.  The 
apostle  discusses  at  length  the  recpiirements, 
the  responsibilities,  the  sanctions,  of  the.  min- 
isterial office  ;  he  regards  the  ^^resbyter  as  an 
example,  as  a  teacher,  as  a  philanthropist,  as  a 
ruler.     How  then,  it  may  well  be  asked,  are 


THE  (JRUmTIAN  MINISTRY.  Ill 

the  sacerdotal  functions,  the  sacerdotal  privi- 
leges of  the  office  wholly  set  aside  ?  If  these 
claims  were  recognized  by  hiin  at  all,  they  must 
necessarily  have  taken  a  foremost  place.  The 
same  argument  again  applies  with  not  less  force 
to  those  passages  in  the  Epistles  to  the  Corin- 
thians where  St.  Paul  asserts  his  apostolic 
authority  against  his  detractors.  E^overtheless, 
so  entirely  had  the  primitive  concej)tion  of  the 
Christian  Church  been  supplanted  by  this  sa- 
cerdotal view  of  the  ministry,  before  the  north- 
ern races  were  converted  to  the  Gosj^el,  and  the 
dialects  derived  from  the  Latin  took  the  place 
of  the  ancient  tongue,  that  the  languages  of 
modern  Europe  very  generally  supply  only  one 
word  to  represent  alike  the  priest  of  the  Jew- 
ish or  lieathen  ceremonial  and  the  ]3resbyter  of 
the  Christian  ministry. 

For,  though  no  distinct  traces  of  sacerdotal- 
ism are  visible  in  the  ages  immediately  after 
the  apostles,  yet  having  once  taken  root  in  the 
Church  it  shot  up  rapidly  into  maturity.  To- 
wards the  close  of  the  second  century  we  dis- 
cern the  iirst  germs  apj)earing  above  the  sur- 
face ;  yet,  shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  third, 
the  plant  has  all  but  attained  its  full  growth. 
The  origin  of  this  idea,  the  progress  of  its  de- 
velopment,  and    the  conditions    favorable  to 


11^  THE  CUlillSTIAN  MINISTRY. 

its  spread  will  be  considered  in  the  present 
section  of  this  essay. 

A  separation  of  orders,  it  is  time,  aj^peared 
at  a  imich  earlier  date,  and  was  in  some  sense 
involved  in  the  appointment  of  a  special  min- 
istry. This,  and  not  more  than  this,  Avas  orig- 
inally contained  in  the  distinction  of  clergy 
and  laity.  If  the  sacerdotal  view  of  the  min- 
istry engrafted  itself  on  this  distinction,  it 
nevertheless  was  not  necessarily  implied  or 
even  indirectly  suggested  thereby.  The  term 
'^  clems,"  as  a  designation  of  the  ministerial 
office,  did  not,  owing  to  any  existing  associa- 
tions, convey  the  idea  of  sacerdotal  functions. 
The  word  is  not  used  of  the  Aaronic  priest- 
hood in  any  special  sense  which  would  exj)lain 
its  transference  to  the  Christian  ministry.  It 
is  indeed  said  of  the  Levites  that  they  have 
no  ''  clerus"  in  the  land,  the  Lord  himself  be- 
ing their  ' '  clerus. ' '  But  the  Jewish  priesthood 
is  never  described  conversely  as  the  special 
"  clerus"  of  Jehovah  ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  metaphor  thus  inverted  is  more 
than  once  aj^plied  to  the  whole  Israelite  people. 
Up  to  this  2)oint,  therefore,  the  analogy  of 
Old  Testament  usage  would  have  suggested 
"  clerus"  as  a  name  rather  for  the  entire  bf)dv 
of  the  faithful  than  for  the  ministry  specially 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINI8TUY.  113 

or  exclusively  :  nor  do  other  references  to  the 
clerus  or  lot  in  connection  with  the  Levitical 
priesthood  countenance  its  special  application. 
The  tithes,  it  is  true,  were  assigned  to  the  sons 
of  Levi  as  their  ^'  clerns  ;"  but  in  this  there  is 
nothing  distinctive,  and  in  fact  the  word  is  em- 
ployed much  more  prominently  in  describing 
the  lands  allotted  to  the  whole  people.  Again, 
the  courses  of  j^i'iests  and  Levites  selected  to 
conduct  the  temple-service  w^ere  appointed  by 
lot  ;  but  the  mode  adopted  in  distributing  a 
particular  set  of  duties  is  far  too  special  to 
have  suj)plied  a  distinctive  name  for  the  whole 
order.  If  indeed  it  were  an  established  fact 
that  the  Aaronic  priesthood  at  the  time  of  the 
Christian  era  commonly  bore  the  name  of 
''  clergy,"  we  might  be  driven  to  explain" the 
designation  in  this  or  in  some  similar  way  ; 
but  apparently  no  evidence  of  any  such  usage 
exists,  and  it  is  therefore  needless  to  cast  about 
for  an  explanation  of  a  fact  wdiich  itself  is 
only  conjectural.  The  origin  of  the  terra 
clergy,  as  applied  to  the  Christian  ministry, 
must  be  sought  elsewhere. 

And  the  record  of  the  earliest  appointment 
made  by  the  Christian  Church  after  tlie  as- 
cension of  the  Lord  seems  to  supply  the  clue. 
Exhorting  the  assembled  brethren  to  .elect  a 


114  THE  CRfilSTIAN  MINISTRY. 

successor  in  place  of  Jndas,  St.  Peter  tells 
tliem  tliat  the  traitor  ''  had  been  numbered 
among  tliem  and  had  received  the  lot  {Kkypov) 
of  the  ministry  ;"  Avhile  in  the  account  of  the 
subsequent  proceedings  it  is  recorded  that  the 
apostles  ^*  distributed  lots^^  to  the  brethren, 
and  that  ' '  the  lot  fell  on  Matthias,  and  he  was 
added  to  the  eleven  apostles. ' '  The  following 
therefore  seems  to  be  the  sequence  of  mean- 
ings by  which  the  word  xXypo?  arrived  at  this 
peculiar  sense  :  (1)  The  lot  by  which  the  office 
was  assigned  ;  (2)  the  office  thus  assigned  by 
lot  ;  (3)  the  body  of  persons  holding  the  of- 
fice. The  first  two  senses  are  illustrated  by 
the  passages  quoted  from  the  Acts  ;  and  from 
the  second  to  the  third  the  transition  is  easy 
and  natural.  It  must  not  be  supposed,  however, 
that  the  mode  of  appointing  officers  by  lot 
prevailed  generally  in  the  early  Church.  Be- 
sides the  case  of  Matthias  no  other  instance  is 
recorded  in  the  N^ew  Testament  ;  nor  is  this 
procedure  likely  to  have  been  commonly 
adoj)ted.  But  just  as  in  the  passage  quoted  the 
word  is  used  to  describe  the  office  of  Judas, 
though  Judas  was  certainly  not  selected  by 
lot,  so  generally  from  signifying  one  special 
mode  of  appointment  to  office  it  got  to  signify 
office  iji  the  Church  generally.     If  this  account 


THE  CURI8TIAN  MINISTRY.  115 

of  the  application  of  '^  clems"  to  tlie  Chris- 
tian ministry  be  correct,  we  should  expect  to 
Unci  it  illustrated  by  a  corresponding  progress 
in  the  actual  usage  of  the  word.  And  this  is 
in  fact  the  case.  The  sense  ' '  clerical  appoint- 
ment or  office"  chronologically  precedes  the 
sense  ''  clergy. "  The  former  meanmg  occurs 
several  times  in  Iren?eus.  He  speaks  of  Ily- 
ginus  as  "  holding  the  ninth  clerus  of  the  epis- 
copal succession  from  tlie  apostles  ;"  and  of 
Eleutherus,  in  like  manner,  he  says  :  ' '  He  now 
occupies  the  clerus  of  tlie  episcopate  in  the 
tenth  place  from  the  apostles. "  On  the  other 
hand,  the  earliest  instance  of  ' '  clerus, ' '  mean- 
ing clergy,  seems  to  occur  in  Tertullian,  who 
belongs  to  the  next  generation. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  use  of  "  clerus" 
to  denote  the  ministry  cannot  be  traced  to  the 
Jewish  priesthood,  and  is  therefore  wholly  un- 
connected with  ^YLj  sacerdotal  views.  The 
tertn  does  indeed  recognize  the  clergy  as  an 
order  distinct  from  the  laity,  but  this  is  a  mere 
question  of  ecclesiastical  rule  or  polity,  and  in- 
volves no  doctrinal  bearings.  The  origin  of 
sacerdotal  phraseology  and  ideas  must  be  sought 
elsewhere. 

Attention  has  been  already  directed  to  the 
absence  of  any  appeal  to  sacerdotal  claims  in 


116  THE  CHLUSTIAN  MINISTRY. 

tlie  Pastoral  Epistles.  Tlie  silence  of  the  apos- 
tolic fathers  deserves  also  to  be  noticed.  Though 
the  genuine  letters  of  all  three  may  be  truly 
said  to  hinge  on  questions  relating  to  the  min- 
istry, no  distinct  traces  of  this  influence  are 
visible.  St.  Clement,  as  the  representative  of 
the  Eoman  Church,  vrrites  to  the  Christian 
brotherhood  at  Corinth,  offerino:friendlv  coun- 
sel  in  their  disputes,  and  rebuking  their  factious 
and  unworthy  conduct  towards  certain  presby- 
ters whom,  though  blameless,  they  had  ejected 
from  office.  He  appeals  to  motives  of  Chris- 
tian love,  to  principles  of  Christian  order.  He 
adduces  a  large  number  of  examples  from  bib- 
lical history  condemnatory  of  jealousy  and  in- 
subordination. He  urges  that  men  who  had 
been  aj^pointed  directly  by  the  apostles,  or  by 
persons  themselves  so  appointed,  ought  to  have 
received  better  treatment.  Dwelling  at  great 
length  on  the  subject,  he  nevertheless  advances 
no  sacerdotal  claims  or  immunities  on  behalf  of 
the  ejected  ministers.  He  does,  it  is  true,  ad- 
duce the  Aaronic  priesthood  and  the  temple 
service  as  showing  that  God  has  appointed  set 
persons  and  set  places  and  will  have  all  things 
done  in  order. '  He  had  before  illustrated  this 
lesson  by  the  sub(>rdination  of  ranks  in  an 
arniv,  bv  the  relation  of  tlie  diifereut  members 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MimSTRY.  117 

of  the  Imman  body  ;  he  had  insisted  on  t]ie 
duties  of  the  strong  towards  the  weak,  of  the 
rich  towards  the  poor,  of  the  wise  towards  the 
ignorant,  and  so  forth  ;  he  had  enforced  the 
appeal  by  reminding  his  readers  of  the  utter 
feebleness    and  insignificance  of  man  in  the 
sight  of  God,  as  represented  in  the  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  Testament  ;  and  then  follows  the 
passage  which  contains  the  allusion  in  question  : 
"  He  hath  not  commanded  (the  offerings  and 
ministrations)  to  be  performed  at  random  or  in 
disorder,  bitt  at  fixed  times  and  seasons  ;  and 
where  and  through  wliom  he  willeth  them  to 
be  performed,   he  hath  ordained  by  his  su- 
preme will.     They  therefore  who  make  their 
offerings  at  the  appointed  seasons  are  accept- 
able, and  blessed,  since,  following  the  ordinances 
of  the  Master,  they  do  not  go  wrong.     For  to 
the  high-priest  peculiar  services  are  intrusted, 
and  the  priests  have  their  23eculiar  office  as- 
signed to  them,  and  on  Levites  peculiar  minis- 
trations are  imposed  :  the  layman  is  bound  by 
lay  ordinances.     Let  each  of  you,  brethren,  in 
his  own  rank,  give  thanks  to  God,  retaining  a 
good  conscience, not  transgressing  the  appointed 
rule  of  his  service  {XeiTovpyia?)^ ' '  etc.    Here  it 
is  clear  that  in  St.  Clement's  conception  the 
sanctiou  possessed  in  common  by  the  Aaronic 


118  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

• 

priesthood  and  tlie  Christian  ministry  is  not 
the  sacerdotal  consecration,  but  the  di\anely 
appointed  order.  He  pavsses  over  in  silence 
the  numerous  passages  in  the  Old  Testament 
which  enjoin  obedience  to  the  priests  ;  while 
the  only  sentence  (§  42)  which  he  puts  forward 
as  anticipating  and  enforcing  the  authority  of 
the  Christian  ministry  is  a  misquoted  and  mis- 
interpreted verse  from  Isaiah  :  ''I  will  es- 
tablish their  overseers  (bishops)  in  righteous- 
ness and  their  ministers  (deacons)  in  faith." 
Again,  a  little  later,  he  mentions  in»illustration 
the  murmuring  of  the  Isr^felites  which  was  re- 
buked by  the  budding  of  Aaron' s  rod .  But  here 
too  he  makes  it  clear  how  far  he  considers  the 
analogy  to  extend.  He  calls  the  sedition  in  the 
one  case  ' '  jealousy  concerning  the  priesthood, ' ' 
in  the  other  ' '  strife  concerning  the  honor  of 
the  episcopate."  He  keeps  the  names  and  the 
offices  distinct.  The  significance  of  this  fact 
will  be  felt  at  once  by  comparing  his  language 
with  the  expressions  used  by  any  later  writer, 
such  as  Cyprian,  who  was  penetrated  with  the 
spirit  of  sacerdotalism. 

Of  St.  Ignatius,  as  the  champion  of  episco- 
pacy, much  has  been  said  already.  It  is  suf- 
ficient to  add  here  that  he  never  regards  Ae 
ministry  as  a  sacerdotal  office.     But  the  silence 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  119 

of  the  writer  of  the  interpolated  and  forged 
epistles  is  a  more  important  and  remarkable 
fact.  While  these  letters  teem  with  passages 
enjoining  the  strictest  obedience  to  bishops, 
while  their  language  is  frequently  so  strong  as 
to  be  almost  profane,  this  Ignatian  writer  never 
once  appeals  to  sacerdotal  claims,  though  such 
an  appeal  would  have  made  his  case  more  than 
doublj  strong.  If  it  be  ever  safe  to  take  the 
sentiments  of  an  individual  writer  as  express- 
ing the  belief  of  his  age,  we  maj  infer  from 
the  silence  which  pervades  these  letters  that 
the  sacerdotal  view  of  the  ministry  had  not  yet 
found  its  way  into  the  Christian  Church. 

When  we  pass  on  to  the  third  apostolic  f atlier, 
the  same  phenomenon  is  repeated.  Poly  carp, 
like  Clement  and  Ignatius,  occupies  much  space 
in  discussing  the  duties  and  the  claims  of 
Christian  ministers.  He  takes  occasion  espe- 
cially to  give  his  correspondents  advice  as  to  a 
certain  presbyter  who  had  disgraced  his  office 
by  a  grave  offence.  Yet  he  again  knows  noth- 
ing, or  at  least  says  nothing,  of  any  sacerdotal 
privileges  which  claimed  respect,  or  of  any 
sacerdotal  sanctity  which  had  been  violated. 

Justin  Mai*t)T  writes  about  a  generation 
later.  He  speaks  at  length  and  with  emphasis 
on  the  eucharistic  offerings.     Here  at  least  we 


120  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

might  expect  to  find  sacerdotal  views  of  tlie 
Christian  ministry,  propoimded.  Yet  this  is 
far  from  being  the  case.  He  does  indeed  lay 
stress  on  sacerdotal  f nnctions,  bnt  these  belong 
to  the  whole  body  of  the  Chnrcli,  and  are  not 
in  any  way  the  exclnsive  right  of  the  clergy. 
'^  So  we/'  he  writes,  when  argning  against  Try- 
pho  the  Jew,  "  who  through  the  name  of  Jesus 
have  believed  as  one  man  in  God  the  maker  of 
the  -universe,  having  divested  ourselves  of  onr 
filtliy  garments,  that  is  onr  sins,  through  the 
name  of  his  first-born  Son,  and  having  been 
refined  {Trvpcodivre?)  by  the  word  of  his  caUing, 
are  the  true  high-priestly  race  of  God,  as  God 
liimself  also  beareth  witness,  saying  that  in 
every  place  among  the  Gentiles  are  men  of- 
fering sacrifices  well  pleasing  unto  him  and 
pure  (Mai.  1  :  11).  Yet  God  doth  not  receive 
sacrifices  from  any  one,  except  through  his 
priests.  Therefore  God  anticipating  all  sacri- 
fices through  this  name,  which  Jesus  Christ 
ordained  to  be  offered,  I  mean  those  offered  by 
the  Christians  in  every  region  of  the  earth  with 
(fVz)  the  thanksgiving  (the  eucharist)  of  the 
bread  and  of  the  cup,  beareth  witness  that 
they  are  well  pleasing  to  him  ;  but  the  sacrifices 
offered  by  you  and  through  tliose  your  priests 
he   rejecteth,    saying,     '  And    your    sacrifices 


THE  (JHR18TIAN  MimSTHT.  121 

I  will  not  accept  from  yonr  hands,'  "  etc. 
(Mai.  1  :  10.)  The  whole  Christian  people 
therefore  (such  is  Justin's  conception)  have  not 
only  taken  the  place  of  the  Aaronic  priesthood, 
but  have  become  a  nation  of  higJi-prlests^  being- 
made  one  with  the  great  High-Priest  of  the 
new  covenant,  and  presenting  their  eucharistic 
offerings  in  his  name. 

Another  generation  leads  us  from  Justin 
Martyr  to  Irenaeus.  When  Irengeus  writes,  the 
second  century  is  very  far  advanced.  Yet  still 
the  silence  which  has  accompanied  us  hitherto 
remains  unbroken.  And  here  again  it  is  im- 
portant to  observe  that  Irenseus,  if  he  held  the 
sacerdotal  view,  had  every  motive  for  urging 
it,  since  the  imj^ortance  and  authority  of  the 
episcopate  occupy  a  large  space  in  his  teaching, 
l^evertheless  he  not  only  withholds  this  title 
as  a  special  designation  of  the  Christian  min- 
istry, but  advances  an  entirely  different  view 
of  the  priestly  office.  He  recognizes  only  the 
priesthood  of  moral  holiness,  the  priesthood 
of  apostolic  self-denial.  Thus  commenting  on 
the  reference  made  by  our  Tord  to  the  incident 
in  David's  life  where  the  king  and  his  follow- 
ers eat  the  shew-bread,  ' '  which  it  is  not  law- 
ful to  eat  save  for  the  priests  alone,"  Irenseus 
remarks:   ''He  excuseth  his  disciples  by  the 


123  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

words  of  tlie  law,  and  signifietli  that  it  is  law- 
ful for  priests  to  act  freely.  For  David  had  been 
called  to  be  a  priest  in  the  sight  of  God,  al- 
though Saul  carried  on  a  ^persecution  against 
him  ;  for  all  just  men  belong  to  the  sacerdotal 
order.  Now  all  apostles  of  the  Lord  are  priests, 
for  they  inherit  neither  lands  nor  houses  here, 
but  ever  attend  on  the  altar  and  on  God." 
' '  AYho  are  they, ' '  he  goes  on,  ' '  that  have  left 
father  and  mother  aiid  have  renounced  all  their 
kindred  for  the  sake  of  the  word  of  God  and 
his  covenant,  but  the  disciples  of  the  Lord? 
Of  these  Moses  saith  again,  ^  But  they  shall 
have  no  inheritance  ;  for  the  Lord  himself 
shall  be  their  inheritance  ; '  and  again,  '  The 
priests,  the  Levites,  in  the  whole  tribe  of  Levi 
shall  have  no  part  nor  inheritance  with  Israel : 
the  iirst-f ruits  (fructiiicationes)  of  the  Lord  are 
their  inheritance  ;  they  shall  eat  them. '  For 
this  reason  also  Paul  saith,  '  I  require  not  the 
gift,  but  I  require  i\\Q  fruit.'  The  disciples 
of  the  Lord,  he  would  say,  were  allowed  when 
hungry  to  take  food  of  the  seeds  (they  had 
sown),  for '  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  food. '  " 
Again,  striking  upon  the  same  topic  in  a  later 
passage,  and  commenting  on  tlie  words  of  Jere-  , 
miah  (31  :  14),  "  I  will  intoxicate  the  soul  of 
the  priests  the  sons  of  Levi,   and  my  people 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  123 

shall  be  filled  with  my  good  things, "  he  adds  : 
' '  We  have  shown  in  a  former  book  that  all 
disciples  of  the  Lord  are  priests  and  Levites, 
who  also  profaned  the  Sabbath  in  the  temple 
and  are  blameless. ' '  Thus  Irenaeiis  too  recog- 
nizes the  whole  body  of  the  faithful  under  the 
new  dispensation  as  the  counterparts  of  the  sons 
of  Levi  under  the  old.  The  position  of  the 
apostles  and  evangelists  has  not  yet  been  aban- 
doned. 

A  few  years  later,  but  still  before  the  close 
0£  the  century.  Poly  crates  of  Ephesus  writes  to 
Victor  of  Rome.  Licidentally  he  speaks  of 
St.  John  as  ''  having  been  made  a  priest"  and 
"  wearing  the  mitre  ;"  and  this  might  seem  to 
be  a  distinct  expression  of  sacerdotal  views, 
for  the  ''  mitre"  to  which  he  alludes  is  doubt- 
less the  tiara  of  the  Jewish  high-priest.  But 
it  may  very  reasonably  be  questioned  if  this  is 
the  correct  meaning  of  the  passage.  Whether 
St.  John  did  actually  wear  this  decoration  of 
the  high-priestly  office,  or  whether  Polycrates 
has  mistaken  a  symbolical  expression  in  some 
earlier  writer  for  an  actual  fact,  or  whether, 
lastly,  his  language  itself  should  be*  treated  as 
a  violent  metaphor,  I  have  had  occasion  to  dis- 
cuss elsewhere.  But  in  any  case  the  notice  is 
explained  by  the  language  of  St.  John  himself, 


l^J:  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

who  regards  the  whole  body  of  believers  as 
high-priests  of  the  new  covenant  ;  and  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  contemporaries  of  Poljcrates  still 
continued  to  hold  similar  language.  As  a  iig- 
iirative  expression  or  as  a  literal  fact  the  notice 
points  to  St.  John  as  the  veteran  teacher,  the 
chief  representative,  of  a  pontifical  race.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  possible  that  this  was  not 
the  sense  which  Poljcrates  himself  attached  to 
the  figure  or  the  fact  ;  and  if  so,  Ave  have  here 
perhaps  the  earliest  passage  in  any  extant 
Christian  writing  where  the  sacerdotal  view  of 
the  ministry  is  distinctly  pat  forward. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  was  a  contemporary 
of  Poly  crates.  Though  his  extant  writings  are 
considerable  in  extent,  and  though  they  are 
largely  occupied  w^ith  questions  of  Christian 
ethics  and  social  life,  the  ministry  does  not 
hold  a  prominent  place  in  them.  In  the  few 
passages  where  he  mentions  it,  he  does  not 
betray  any  tendency  to  sacerdotal  or  even  to 
hierarchical  views.  The  bias  of  his  mind  in- 
deed lay  in  an  opposite  direction.  He  would 
be  much  more  inclined  to  maintain  an  aris- 
tocracy of' intellectual  contemplation  than  of 
sacerdotal  office.  And  in  Alexandria  generally, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  development  of  the  hier'^• 
archy  was  slower  than  in  other  churches.     How 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  125 

far  he  is  from  maintaining  a  sacerdotal  view 
of  the  ministry,  and  how  substantially  he  coin- 
cides with  Irengeus  in  this  respect,  will  appear 
from  the  following  passage  :  ''It  is  possible 
for  men   even  now,  by  exercising  themselves 
in  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  and  by  liv- 
ing a  perfect  gnostic  life  in  obedience  to  the 
Gospel,  to  be  inscribed  in  the  roll  of  the  apos- 
tles.    Such  men  are  genuine  presbyters  of  the 
Church  and  true  deacons  of  the  will  of  God,  if 
they   practise   and   teach    the    things  of  the 
Lord,  being  not  indeed  ordained  by  men  nor 
considered  righteous  because  they  are  presby- 
ters,  but  enrolled  in  the  presbytery  because 
they  are  righteous  ;  and  though  here  on  earth 
they  may  not  be  honored  with  a  chief  seat,  yet 
shall  they  sit  on  the  four  and-twenty  thrones 
judging  the  people."     It  is  cpiite  consistent 
with  this  truly  spiritual  view  that  he  should 
elsewhere  recognize  the  presbyter,  the  deacon, 
and  the  layman  as  distinct  orders.     But,   on 
the  other  hand,    he    never    uses    the    words 
''priest,"  "priestly,"   "priesthood,"   of  the 
Christian  ministry.     In  one  passage  indeed  he 
contrasts  laity  and  priesthood,  but  without  any 
such  reference.     Speaking  of  the  veil  of  the 
temple,  and  assigning  to  it  a  symbolical  mean- 
ing, he  describes  it  as  a  "  barrier  against  laic 


126  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

unbelief,"  behind  whicli  "the  priestly  minis- 
tration is  hidden."     Here  the  Inymen  and  the 
priests  are  respectively  those  who  reject  and 
those  who  appropriate  the  spiritual  mysteries 
of  the  Gospel.      Accordingly  in  the   context 
St.  Clement,  following  up  the  hint  thrown  out 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  gives  a  spiritual 
meaning  to  all  the  furniture  of  the  holy  place. 
His  younger  contemporary  Tertullian  is  the 
first  to  assert  direct  sacerdotal  claims  on  behalf 
of  the  Christian  ministry.      Of  the  heretics  he 
comj^lains  that  they  impose  sacerdotal  fimc- 
tions  on  laymen.      "  The  right  of  giving  bap- 
tism," he  says  elsewhere,  ''  belongs  to  the  chief 
priest  (snmmus  sacerdos),  that  is,  the  bishop." 
'^  No  woman,"   he  asserts,    ''ought  to  teach, 
baptize,  celebrate  the  eucharist,  or  arrogate  to 
herself  the  performance  of  any  duty  pertaining 
to  males,  nnich  less  of  the  sacerdotal  office." 
And   generally   he    uses  the  words  sacerdos, 
sacerdotium,  sacerdotalis,  of  the  Christian  min- 
istry.    It  seems  plain,  moreover,  from  his  mode 
of  speaking,  that  such  language  was  not  pecu- 
liar  to   himself,    but   passed   current   in    the 
churches  among  which   he  moved.     Yet  he 
himself  supplies  the  true  counterpoise  to  this 
special  sacerdotalism  in  his  strong  assertion  o:^' 
the  universal  priesthood  of  all  true  believers. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  127 

"  We  sliould  be  foolish,"  so  lie  writes  when 
arguing  against  second  marriages,  ' '  to  suppose 
that  a  latitude  is  allowed  to  laymen  which 
is  denied  to  priests.  Are  not  we  laymen  also 
priests  ?  It  is  written,  '  He  hath  also  made  us 
a  kingdom  and  priests  to  God  and  his  Father. ' 
It  is  the  authority  of  the  Church  which  makes 
a  diif  erence  between  the  order  (the  clergy)  and 
the  people — this  authority  and  the  consecration 
of  their  rank  by  the  assignment  of  special 
benches  to  the  clergy.  Thus  where  there  is  no 
bench  of  clergy  you  present  the  eucharistic 
offerings  and  baptize  and  are  your  own  sole 
priest.  For  where  three  are  gathered  together 
there  is  a  church,  even  though  they  be  laymen. 
Therefore,  if  you  exercise  the  rights  of  a  priest 
in  cases  of  necessity,  it  is  your  duty  also  to 
observe  the  discipline  enjoined  on  a  priest, 
where  of  necessity  you  exercise  the  rights  of  a 
priest. ' '  And  in  another  treatise  lie  writes  in 
bitter  irony,  ' '  When  we  begin  to  exalt  and 
inflame  ourselves  against  the  clergy,  then  we 
are  all  one  ;  then  we  are  all  priests,  because 
^  lie  made  us  priests  to  God  and  his  Father  ; ' 
but  when  we  are  required  to  submit  ourselves 
equally  to  the  priestly  discipline,  we  throw  off 
our  fillets  and  are  no  longer  equaL"  These 
passages,  it  is  true,  occur  in  treatises  probal)ly 


128  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

written  after  Tertullian  had  become  wholly  oi 
in  part  a  Montanist  ;  but  this  consideration  is 
of  little  consequence,  for  they  bear  witness  to 
the  fact  that  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  an  uni- 
versal priesthood  was  common  ground  to  him- 
self and  liis  opponents,  and  had  not  yet  been 
obscured  by  the  sacerdotal  view  of  the  Chris- 
tian ministry. 

An  incidental  expression  in  Hippolytus 
serves  to  show  that  a  few  years  later  than  Ter- 
tulHan  sacerdotal  terms  were  commonly  used 
to  designate  the  different  orders  of  the  clergy. 
* '  We, ' '  says  the  zealous  bishop  of  Portus,  ' '  be- 
ing successors  of  the  apostles  and  partaking  of 
the  same  grace  both  of  high-jjriesthood  and  of 
teaching,  and  accounted  guardians  of  the 
Church,  do  not  close  our  eyes  drowsily  or 
tacitly  suppress  the  true  word,"  etc. 

The  march  of  sacerdotal  ideas  was  proba- 
bly slower  at  Alexandria  than  at  Carthage  or 
Ttome.  Though  belonging  to  the  next  genera- 
tion, Origen's  views  are  hardly  so  advanced  as 
those  of  Tertullian.  In  the  temple  of  the 
Church,  he  says,  there  are  two  sanctuaries  : 
the  heavenly,  accessible  only  to  Jesus  Christ, 
our  great  Iligh-Priest  ;  the  earthly,  open  to 
all  priests  of  the  new  covenant,  that  is  to  all 
faithful  believers.     For  Christians  are  a  sacer- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  129 

dotal  race,  and  therefore  have  access  to  the 
outer  sanctuary.      There   they  must  present 
their  offerings,  their   holocausts  of  love   and 
self-denial.       From  this  outer    sanctuary  our 
High-Priest  takes  the  fire  as  he  enters   the 
Holy  of  Holies  to  oifer  incense  to  the  Father 
(see  Lev.  16  :  12).    Yery  many  professed  Chris- 
tians, he  writes  elsewhere  (I  am  here  abridg- 
ing his  words),  occupied  chiefly  with  the  con- 
cerns of  this   world   and   dedicating   few   of 
their  actions  to  God,   are  represented  by.  the 
tribes,    who  merely  present  their  tithes   and 
first-fruits.     On  the  other  hand,  ''  those  who 
are  devoted  to  the  divine  word  and  are  dedi- 
cated sincerely  to  the  sole  worship   of    God 
may  not  unreasonably   be  called  priests  and 
Levites,    according   to  the  difference  in  this 
resj^ect  of   their  impulses   tending  thereto." 
Lastly,  ' '  Those  who  excel  the  men  of  their  own 
generation  perchance  will    be   high-priests." 
They  are  only  high-priests,  however,  after  the 
order  of  Aaron,  our  Lord  himself  being  High- 
Priest  after  the  order  of  Melchisedek.     Ao-ain, 
in  a  third  place,  he  says  :   '^  The  apostles,  and 
they  that  are  made  like  unto  the  apostles,  be- 
ing priests  after  the  order  of  the  great  High- 
Priest,  having  received  the  knowledge  of  the 
worship  of  God,  and  being  instructed  by  the 


130  THE  CHRISTIAN  MmmTRY. 

Spirit,  know  for  what  sins  they  ought  to  offer 
sacrifices,"  etc.  In  all  these  passages  Origen 
has  taken  spiritual  enlightenment  and  not  sa- 
cerdotal office  to  be  the  Christian  counterpart 
to  the  Aaronic  j^i'iesthood.  Elsewhere,  how- 
ever, he  makes  iise  of  sacerdotal  terms  to  de- 
scribe the  ministry  of  the  Church  ;  and  in  one 
place  distinguishes  the  priests  and  the  Levites 
as  representing  the  presbyters  and  deacons  re- 
spectively. 

Hitherto  the  sacerdotal  view  of  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  has  not  been  held  apart  from  a 
distinct  recoo-nition  of  the  sacerdotal  functions 
of  the  whole  Christian  body.  The  minister  is 
thus  regarded  as  a  priest,  because  he  is  the 
mouthpiece,  the  representative,  of  a  priestly 
race.  Such  appears  to  be  the  conception  of 
Tertullian,  who  speaks  of  the  clergy  as  sej^a- 
rate  from  the  laity  only  because  the  Church  in 
the  exercise  of  her  j^rerogative  has  for  conve- 
nience intrusted  to  them  the  performance  of 
certain  sacerdotal  functions  belonging  properly 
to  the  whole  congregation,  and  of  Origen,  who, 
giving  a  moral  and  spiritual  interpretation  to 
the  sacerdotal  office,  considers  the  priesthood 
of  the  clergy  to  differ  from  the  priesthood  of 
the  laity  only  in  degree,  in  so  far  as  the  for- 
mer devote  their  time  and  their  thoughts  more 


TEE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  131 

entirely  to  God  than  tlie  latter.  So  long  as 
this  important  aspect  is  kept  in  view,  so  long 
as  the  priesthood  of  the  ministry  is  regarded  as 
springing  from  the  priesthood  of  the  whole 
body,  the  teaching  of  the  a]30stles  has  not 
been  directlv  violated.  But  still  it  w^as  not  a 
safe  nomenclature  which  assigned  the  terms 
sacerdos,  lepsvs^  and  the  like,  to  the  ministry, 
as  a  special  designation.  The  appearance  of 
this  phenomenon  marks  the  period  of  transition 
from  the  universal  sacerdotalism  of  the  ]^ew 
Testament  to  the  particular  sacerdotalism  of  a 
later  age. 

If  Tertullian  and  Ori gen  are  still  hovering 
on  the  border,  Cyprian  has  boldly  transferred 
himself  into  the  new  domain.  It  is  not  only 
that  he  uses  the  terms  sacerdos,  sacerdotium, 
sacerdotalis  of  the  ministry  with  a  frequency 
hitherto  without  parallel  ;  but  he  treats  all 
the  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  which  refer 
to  the  privileges,  the  sanctions,  the  duties,  and 
the  responsibilities  of  the  Aaronic  priesthood 
as  applying  to  the  officers  of  the  Christian 
Church.  His  opponents  are  profane  and  sac- 
rilegious ;  they  have  passed  sentence  of  death 
on  themselves  by  disobeying  the  command  of 
the  Lord  in  Deuteronomy  to  "hear  the 
priest  ;"  they  have  forgotten  the  injunction  of 


132  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

Solomon  to  honor  and  reverence  God's  priests  ; 
they  have  despised  the  exampe  of  St.  Paul, 
who  regretted  that  he  ''  did  not  know  it  was 
the  high-priest  ;"  they  have  been  guilty  of  the 
sin  of  Korah,  Datham,  and  Abiram.  These 
passages  are  urged  again  and  again.  They 
are  urged,  moreover,  as  applying  not  by  parity 
of  reasoning,  not  by  analogy  of  circumstance, 
but  as  absolute  and  immediate  and  unquestion- 
able. As  Cyprian  crowned  the  edifice  of 
episcopal  power,  so  also  was  he  the  first  to  put 
forward  without  relief  or  disguise  these  sacer- 
dotal assumptions  ;  and  so  uncompromising 
was  the  tone  in  which  he  asserted  them, 
that  nothing  was  left  to  his  successors  but  to 
enforce  his  principles  and  reiterate  his  lan- 
guage. 

After  thus  tracing  the  gradual  departure 
from  the  apostolic  teaching  in  the  encroach- 
ment of  the  sacerdotal  on  the  pastoral  and 
ministerial  view  of  the  clergy,  it  will  be  in- 
structive to  investigate  the  causes  to  which 
this  divergence  from  primitive  truth  may  be 
ascribed.  To  the  question  whether  the  change 
was  due  to  Jewish  or  Gentile  influences,  oppo- 
site answers  have  been  given.  To  some  it  has 
api^eared  as  a  reproduction  of  the  Aaronic 
priesthood,  due  to  Pharisaic  tendencies,  such 


THE  CHRISTIAN'  MINISTRY.  133 

as  we  find  among  St.  Paul's  converts  in  Gala- 
tia  and  at  Corintli,  still  lingering  in  tlie  Church; 
to  others  as  imported  into  Christianity  by  the 
ever-increasing  mass  of  heathen  converts  who 
were  incapable  of  shaking  off  their  sacerdotal 
prejudices  and  aj^preciating  the  free  spirit  of 
the  Gospel.  The  latter  view  seems  correct  in 
the  main,  but  requires  some  modification. 

At  all  events,  so  far  as  the  evidence  of  extant 
writings  goes,  there  is  no  reason  for  supposing 
that  sacerdotalism  was  especially  rife  among 
the  Jewish  converts.  The  Testaments  of  the 
Twelve  Patriarchs  may  be  taken  to  rej^resent 
one  phase  of  Judaic  Christianity  ;  the  Clemen- 
tine writings  exhibit  another.  In  both  alike 
there  is  an  entire  absence  of  sacerdotal  views 
of  the  ministry.  The  former  work  indeed 
dwells  at  length  on  our  Lord's  ofiice  as  the  de- 
scendant and  heir  of  Levi,  and  alludes  more 
than  once  to  his  institution  of  a  new  priesthood  ; 
but  this  priesthood  is  spiritual  and  comprehen- 
sive. Christ  himself  is  the  High-Priest,  and 
the  sacerdotal  ofiice  is  described  as  being  "  after 
the  type  of  the  Gentiles,  extending  to  all  the 
Gentiles."  On  the  Christian  mniistry  the 
writer  is  silent.  In  the  Clementine  Homilies 
the  case  is  somewhat  difi^erent,  but  the  inference 
is  still  more  obvious.    Though  the  episcopate  is 


134  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

regarded  as  the  backbone  of  the  Church,  thoiigii 
the  claims  of  the  ministry  are  urged  with  great 
distinctiiess,  no  appeal  is  ever  made  to  priestly 
sanctity  as  the  ground  of  this  exalted  estimate. 
Indeed  the  hold  of  the  Levitical  priestliood  on 
the  mind  of  the  pious  Jew  must  have  been 
materially  weakened  at  the  Christian  era  by  the 
development  of  the  synagogue  organization  on 
the  one  hand,  and  by  the  ever-growing  influ- 
ence of  the  learned  and  literary  classes,  the 
sci-ibes  and  I'abbis,  on  the  other.  The  points  on 
which  the  Judaizers  of  the  apostolic  age  in- 
sist are  the  rite  of  circumcision,  the  distinction 
of  meats,  the  observance  of  sabbaths,  and  the 
like.  The  necessity  of  a  priesthood  was  not, 
or  at  least  is  not  known  to  have  been,  part  of 
their  programme.  Among  the  Essene  Jews 
especially,  who  went  so  far  as  to  repudiate  tiie 
temple  sacrifices,  no  great  impoi'tance  could 
have  been  attached  to  the  Aaronic  j)riesthood  : 
and  after  the  apostolic  ages,  at  all  events,  the 
most  active  Judaizers  of  the  dispersion  seem  to 
have  belonged  to  the  Essene  type.  But  in- 
deed the  overwhelming  argument  against  as- 
cribing the  growth  of  sacerdotal  views  to  Jew- 
ish influence  lies  in  the  fact  that  there  is  a  sin- 
gular  absence  of  distinct  sacerdotalism  during 
the  first  century  and  a  half,  when  alone  on  anv 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  135 

showing  Judaism  was  iDowerful  enough  to  im- 
press itself  on  the  belief  of  the  Church  at 
large. 

It  is  therefore  to  Gentile  feeling  that  this 
development  nmst  be  ascribed.     For  the  hea- 
then, famihar  with  auguries,  lustrations,  sacri- 
fices,  and  depending  on  the  intervention    cf 
some  priest  for  all  the  manifold  religious  rites 
of  the  state,  the  club,  and  the  family,  the  sacer- 
dotal f  mictions  must  have  occupied  a  far  larger 
space  in  the  affairs  of  every-day  life  than  for  the 
Jew  of  the  dispersion,  who  of  necessity   dis- 
pensed and  had  no  scruple  at  dispensing  with 
priestly  ministrations  from  one  year's  end  to 
the  other.     With  tliis  presumption  drawn  from 
probabihty  the  evidence  of  fact  accords.     In 
Latm    Christendom,    as    represented    by    the 
Church  of  Carthage,  the  germs  of  the  ''sacer- 
dotal idea  appear  lirst,  and  soonest  ripen  to  ma- 
turity.     If  we  could  satisfy  ourselves  of  the 
early  date  of  the  Ancient  Syriac  Documents 
lately  pubhshed,   we  should  have  discovered 
another  centre  from  which  this  idea  was  prop 
agated.     And  so  far  their  testimony  may  per- 
hai3s  be  accepted.     Syria  was  at  least  a  soil 
where  such  a  plant  would  thrive  and  luxuriate. 
In  no  country  of  the  civilized  world  was  sacer- 
dotal authority  among  the  heathen  greater. 


136  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

The  most  important  centres  of  Syrian  Chris- 
tianity— Antioch  and  Emesa — were  also  tlie 
cradles  of  strongly-marked  sacerdotal  religions 
which  at  different  times  made  their  influence 
felt  throughout  the  Roman  empire. 

But  though  the  spirit  which  imported  the 
idea  into  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  sustained  it 
there,  was  chiefly  due  to  Gentile  education,  yet 
its  form  was  almost  as  certainly  derived  from 
the  Old  Testament.  And  this  is  the  modifi- 
cation which  needs  to  be  made  in  the  state- 
ment, in  itself  substantially  true,  that  sacer- 
dotalism must  be  traced  to  the  influence  of 
heathen  ratlier  than  of  Jewish  converts. 

In  the  apostolic  writings  we  find  the  terms 
^ '  offering, "  '  ^  sacrifice, ' '  applied  to  certain  con- 
ditions and  actions  of  the  Christian  life.  These 
sacrifices  or  offerings  are  described  as  spiritual ; 
they  consist  of  praise,  of  faitli,  of  almsgiving, 
of  the  devotion  of  the  body,  of  the  eon- 
version  of  unbelievers,  and  the  like.  Thus 
whatever  is  dedicated  to  God's  service  may  be 
included  under  this  metaphor.  In  one  passage 
also  the  image  is  so  far  extended  that  the  aposto- 
lic writer  speaks  of  an  altar  pertaining  to  the 
spiritual  service  of  the  Christian  Church.  If 
on  this  noble  scriptural  language  a  false  super- 
structure has  been  reared,  we  have  here  only 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  13? 

one  instance  out  of  many  where  the  truth 
has  been  impaired  by  transferring  statements 
from  the  region  of  metaphor  to  the  region  of 
fact. 

These  '^  sacrifices' '  were  very  frequently  the 
acts  not  of  the  individual  Christian  but  of  the 
whole  congregation.  Such,  for  instance,  were 
the  offerings  of  public  prayer  and  thanksgiv- 
ing, or  the  collection  of  alms  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  or  the  contribution  of  food  for 
the  agape,  and  the  like.  In  such  cases  the  con- 
gregation was  represented  by  its  minister,  who 
thus  acted  as  its  mouthj^iece,  and  was  said  to 
'' present  the  offerings"  to  God.  So  the  ex- 
pression is  used  in  the  Epistle  of  St.  Clement 
of  Eome.  But  in  itself  it  involves  no  sacer- 
dotal view.  This  ancient  father  regards  the 
sacrifice  or  oifering  as  the  act  of  the  whole 
Church  performed  through  its  presbyters.  The 
minister  is  a  priest  in  the  same  sense  only  in 
which  each  individual  member  of  the  coii^re- 
gation  is  a  priest.  When  St.  Clement  de- 
nounces those  who  usurp  the  functions  of  the 
presbyters,  he  reprobates  their  conduct  not  as 
an  act  of  sacrilege  but  as  a  violation  of  order. 
He  views  the  presbytery  as  an  a]30stolic  ordi- 
nance, not  as  a  sacerdotal  caste. 

Thus  when  this  father  speaks  of  the  presby- 


138  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

ters  as  * '  jDresenting  the  offerings, ' '  lie  iises  an 
expression  which,  if  not  directly  scriptural,  is 
at  least  accordant  with  the  tenor  of  Scrij^tiire. 
But  from  such  language  the  transition  to  sa- 
cerdotal views  was  easy  where  the  sacerdotal 
spirit  was  rife.  From  being  the  act  of  the 
whole  congregation,  the  sacrifice  came  to  be 
regarded  as  the  act  of  the  minister  who  offici- 
ated on  its  behalf. 

And  this  transition  was  moreover  facilitated 
by  the  growing  tendency  to  apply  the  terms 
"  sacrilice"  and  "  offering"  exclusively  or 
chiefly  to  the  eucharistic  service.  It  may  be 
doubted  whether  even  as  used  by  St.  Clement 
the  expression  may  not  have  a  special  reference 
to  this  chief  act  of  Christian  dedication.  It  is 
cpiite  certain  that  writers  belonging  to  the  gen- 
erations next  following,  Justin  Martyr  and  Ire- 
nseus  for  instance,  employ  the  terms  very  fre- 
quently with  this  reference.  We  may  here  re- 
serve the  question  in  what  sense  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper  may  or  may  not  be 
tridy  called  a  sacrifice.  The  point  to  be  noticed 
at  present  is  this  :  that  the  offering  of  the  eucha- 
rist,  being  regarded  as  the  one  special  act  of 
sacrifice,  and  appearing  externally  to  the  eye  as 
the  act  of  the  officiating  minister,  might  welf 
lead  to  the  minister  being  called  a  priest,  and 


THE  CHMISTIAN  MimSTRY.  139 

then  being  tlionglit  a  priest  in  some  exclusive 
sense,  wliere  the  religions  bias  was  in  this  di- 
rection, and  as  soon  as  the  true  position  of  the 
niinister  as  the  representative  of  the  congrega- 
tion was  lost  sight  of. 

But  besides  the  metaphor  or  the  analogy  of 
the  sacrifice,  there  was  another  point  of  re- 
semblance also  between  the  Jewish  priesthood 
and  the  Christian  ministry,  which  favored  the 
sacerdotal  view  of  the  latter.     As  soon  as  the 
episcopate  and  presbytery  ceased  to  be  regaraed 
as  sub-orders,  and  were  looked  upon  as  distinct 
orders,   the  correspondence  of    tlie  threefold 
ministry  with  the  three  ranks  of  the  Levitical 
priesthood  could  not  fail  to  suggest  itself.     The 
solitary  bishop  represented  the  solitary  high- 
priest  ;  the  principal  acts  of  Christian  sacrifice 
were  performed  by  the  presbyters,  as  the  prin- 
cipal acts  of  Jewish  sacrifice  by  the  priests  ; 
and  the  attendant  ministrations  were  assigned 
in  the  one  case  to  the  deacon,  as  in  the  other 
to  the  Levite.     Thus  the  analogy  seemed  com- 
plete.    To  this  correspondence,  however,  there 
was  one  grave  impediment.     The  only  High- 
Priest  under  the  Gospel  recognized    by  the 
apostolic  writings  is  our  Lord  himself.     Ac- 
cordingly, in  the  Christian  remains  of  the  ages 
next  succeeding,  this  title  is  reserved  as  by 


140  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

riglit  to  him  ;  and  tliougli  belonging  to  various 
seliools,  all  writers  alike  abstain  from  applying 
it  to  the  bishoj).  Yet  the  scruple  was  at  length 
set  aside.  When  it  had  become  uSual  to  speak 
of  the  presbyters  as  "  sacerdotes, "  the  designa- 
tion of  ''  pontifex,"  or  ""  summus  sacerdos," 
for  the  bishop  was  far  too  convenient  and  too 
ajDpropriate  to  be  neglected. 

Thus  the  analogy  of  the  sacrifices  and  the  cor- 
respondence of  the  threefold  order  supplied  the 
material  on  which  the  sacerdotal  feeling 
worked.  And  in  this  way,  by  the  union  of 
Gentile  sentiment  with  the  ordinances  of  the 
old  dispensation,  the  doctrine  of  an  exclusive 
priesthood  found  its  way  into  the  Church  of 
Christ. 

How  far  is  the  language  of  the  later  Church 
justifiable  ?  Can  the  Christian  ministry  be 
called  a  priesthood  in  any  sense  ?  and  if  so, 
in  what  sense  ?  The  historical  investigation 
which  has  suggested  this  question  as  its  proper 
corollary  has  also  supplied  the  means  of  an- 
swering it. 

Though  different  interpretations  may  be  }nit 
upon  the  fact  that  the  sacred  writers  through- 
out refrain  from  applying  sacerdotal  terms  to 
the  Christian  ministry,  I  think  it  must  be  taken 
to  signify  this  much  at  least,  that  this  minis- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  141 

try,  if  a  priesthood  at  all,  is  a  priesthood  of  a 
type  essentially  different  from  the  Jewish. 
Otherwise,  we  shall  be  perplexed  to  explain 
why  the  earliest  Christian  teachers  should  have 
abstained  from  nsing  those  terms  which  alone 
wonld  adequately  express  to  their  hearers  the 
one  most  important  aspect  of  the  ministerial  of- 
fice. It  is  often  said  in  reply,  that  we  have  here 
a  question  not  of  words  but  of  things.  This  is 
undeniable  ;  but  words  express  things,  and 
the  silence  of  the  apostles  still  requires  an  ex- 
planation. 

However,  the  interpretation  of  this  fact  is 
not  far  to  seek.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
speaks  at  great  length  on  priests  and  sacrifices 
in  their  Jewish  and  their  Christian  bearing. 
It  is  plain  from  this  epistle,  as  it  may  be 
gathered  also  from  other  notices,  Jewish  and 
heathen,  that  the  one  prominent  idea  of  the 
priestly  office  at  this  time  was  the  function  of 
offering  sacrifice,  and  thereby  making  atone- 
ment. ]^ow  this  apostolic  writer  teaches  that 
all  sacrifices  had  been  consummated  in  the  one 
Sacrifice,  all  priesthoods  absorbed  in  the  one 
Priest.  The  offering  had  been  made  once  for 
all ;  and,  as  there  were  no  more  victims,  there 
could  be  no  more  priests.  All  former  priest- 
hoods had  borne  witness  to  the  necessity  of  a 


i-i;^  THE  (JUIUSTIAN  MINISTRY. 

human  mediator,  and  tliis  sentiment  had  its 
satisfaction  in  the  person  and  office  of  the  Son 
of  Man.  All  ^^ast  sacrifices  had  proclaimed 
the  need  of  an  atoning  death,  and  had  their 
antitype,  their  realization,  their  annnlnient,  in 
the  cross  of  Christ.  This  explicit  statement 
supplements  and  interprets  the  silence  else- 
where noticed  in  the  apostolic  writings. 

Strictly  accordant,  too,  with  the  general 
tenor  of  his  argument  is  the  language  used 
throughout  by  the  writer  of  tliis  epistle.  He 
speaks  of  Christian  sacrifices,  of  a  Christian 
altar  ;  but  the  sacrifices  are  praise  and  thanks- 
giving and  well-doing,  the  altar  is  the  congre- 
gation assembled  for  common  worship.  If  the 
Christian  ministry  were  a  sacerdotal  office,  if 
the  holy  eucharist  were  a  sacerdotal  act,  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  the  Jewisli  priesthood 
and  the  Jewish  sacrifice  were  sacerdotal,  then 
his  argument  is  faulty  and  his  language  mis- 
leading. Though  dwelling  at  great  length  on 
the  Christian  counterparts  to  the  Jewisli  priest, 
the  Jewish  altar,  the  Jewish  sacrifice,  he  omits 
to  mention  the  one  office,  the  one  place,  the 
one  act,  which  on  this  showing  would  be  their 
truest  and  liveliest  counterparts  in  the  every- 
day worship  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  He  has 
"ejected  these,  and  he  has  chosen  instead  moral 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRT.  143 

and  spiritual  analogies  for  all  these  sacred 
types.  Thns  in  what  he  has  said  and  in  what 
he  has  left  unsaid  alike,  his  language  j)oints  to 
one  and  the  same  result. 

If,  therefore,  the  sacerdotal  office  be  under- 
stood to  imply  the  offering  of  sacriiices,  then 
the  E23istle  to  the  Hebrews  leaves  no  place  for 
a  Christian  j^riesthood.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  word  be  taken  in  a  wider  and  looser  accep- 
tation, it  cannot  well  be  withheld  from  the 
ministry  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Only  in 
this  case  the  meaning  of  the  term  should  be 
clearly  apprehended  ;  and  it  might  have  been 
better  if  the  later  Christian  vocabulary  had 
conformed  to  the  silence  of  tlie  apostolic 
writers,  so  that  the  possibility  of  confusion 
would  have  been  avoided. 

According  to  this  broader  meaning,  the 
priest  may  be  defined  as  one  who  represents 
God  to  man  and  man  to  God.  It  is,  moreover, 
indispensable  that  he  should  be  called  by  God, 
for  no  man  '^taketh  this  honor  to  himself." 
The  Christian  ministry  satisfies  both  these  con- 
ditions. 

Of  the  fulfilment  of  the  latter  the  only 
evidence  within  our  cognizance  is  the  fact  that 
the  minister  is  called  according  to  a  divinely 
appointed  order.     If  the  preceding  investiga- 


144:  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

tion  be  substantially  correct,  the  threefold 
ministry  can  be  traced  to  apostolic  direction  ; 
and  short  of  an  express  statement  we  can  pos- 
sess no  better  assurance  of  a  divine  appoint- 
ment, or  at  least  a  divine  sanction.  If  the 
facts  do  not  allow  us  to  unchurch  other  Chris- 
tian communities  differently  organized,  they 
may  at  least  justify  our  jealous  adhesion  to  a 
polity  derived  from  this  source. 

And  while  the  mode  of  appointment  satis- 
fies the  one  condition,  the  nature  of  the  office 
itself  satisfies  the  other  ;  for  it  exhibits  the 
doubly  representative  character  which  is  there 
laid  down. 

The  Christian  minister  is  God's  ambassador 
to  men  ;  he  is  charged  with  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation  ;  he  unfolds  the  will  of  heaven  ; 
he  declares  in  God's  name  the  terms  on  which 
pardon  is  offered  ;  and  he  pronounces  in  God's 
name  the  absolution  of  the  penitent.  This 
last-mentioned  function  has  been  thought  to 
invest  the  ministry  with  a  distinctly  sacerdotal 
character.  Yet  it  is  very  closely  connected 
wdth  the  magisterial  and  pastoral  duties  of  the 
office,  and  is  only  priestly  in  the  same  sense  in 
which  they  are  priestly.  As  empowered  to 
declare  the  conditions  of  God's  grace,  he  J6 
empowered  also  to  proclaim  the  consequences 


THE  CHRTSTIAJSf  MINISTRY.  145 

of  their  acceptance.  But  throughout  his  office 
is  representative  and  not  vicarial.  He  does 
not  interj)ose  between  God  and  man  in  such  a 
way  that  direct  communion  with  God  is  super- 
seded on  the  one  hand,  or  that  his  own  media- 
tion becomes  indispensable  on  the  other. 

Again,  the  Christian  minister  is  the  represen- 
tative of  man  to  God — of  the  congregation 
primarily,  of  the  individual  indirectly  as  a 
member  of  the  congregation.  The  alms,  the 
prayers,  the  thanksgivings  of  the  community 
are  offered  through  him.  Some  representation 
is  as  necessary  in  the  Church  as  it  is  in  a 
popular  government  ;  and  the  nature  of  the 
representation  is  not  affected  by  the  fact  that 
the  form  of  the  ministry  has  been  handed 
down  from  apostolic  times  and  may  well  be 
presumed  to  have  a  divine  sanction.  For 
here  again  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
minister's  function  is  representative  without 
being  vicarial.  He  is  a  priest,  as  the  mouth- 
piece, the  delegate,  of  a  jDriestly  race.  His 
acts  are  not  his  own,  but  the  acts  of  the  con- 
gregation. Hence,  too,  it  will  follow  that, 
viewed  on  this  side  as  on  the  other,  his  func- 
tion cannot  be  absolute  and  indispensable.  It 
may  be  a  general  rule,  it  may  be  under  ordi- 
nary circumstances  a  practically  universal  law. 


146  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY, 

that  the  liio-hest  acts  of  eoiiffreo:ational  wor- 
ship  shall  be  performed  through  the  j^rincijDal 
officers  of  the  congregation.  But  an  emergency 
may  arise  when  the  spirit  and  not  the  letter 
must  decide.  The  Christian  ideal  will  then 
interpose  and  interpret  our  duty.  The  higher 
ordinance  of  the  universal  priesthood  will 
overrule  all  special  limitations.  The  layman 
will  assume  functions  which  are  otherwise  re- 
stricted to  the  ordained  minister. 

Yet  it  would  be  vain  to  deny  that  a  very 
different  conception  prevailed  for  many  cen- 
turies in  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  apostolic 
ideal  was  set  forth,  and  within  a  few  genera- 
tions forgotten.  The  vision  was  only  for  a 
time,  and  then  vanished.  A  strictly  sacerdotal 
view  of  the  ministry  superseded  the  broader 
and  more  spiritual  conception  of  their  priestly 
functions.  From  l)eing  the  representatives, 
the  ambassadors,  of  God,  they  came  to  be  re- 
garded liis  vicars.  Kor  is  this  the  only  in- 
stance where  a  false  conce])tion  has  seemed 
to  maintain  a  long-lived  domination  over  the 
Church.  For  some  centuries  the  idea  of  the 
holy  Homan  empire  enthralled  the  minds  of 
men.  For  a  still  longer  period  the  idea  of  the,** 
holy  Roman  See  held  undisturbed  sway  over 
Western  Chi'istendom.     To  those  who  take  a 


TH?:  GHEI8TIAN  MINISTRY.  14? 

comprehensive  view  of  tlie  ])rogress  of  Chris- 
tianity, even  these  more  lasting  obscurations 
of  the  truth  will  present  no  serious  difficulty. 
They  w^ill  not  suffer  themselves  to  be  blinded 
thereby  to  the  true  nobility  of  ecclesiastical 
history  ;  they  will  not  fail  to  see  that,  even  in 
the  seasons  of  her  deepest  degradation,  the 
Church  w^as  still  the  regenerator  of  society,  the 
upholder  of  right  principle  against  selfish  in- 
terest, the  visible  witness  of  the  invisible  God  ; 
they  will  thankfully  confess  that,  notwithstand- 
ing the  pride  and  selfishness  and  dishonor 
of  individual  rulers,  notwithstanding  the  im- 
perfections and  errors  of  special  institutions 
and  developments,  yet  in  her  continuous  his- 
tory the  divine  promise  has  been  signally 
realized,  ^ '  Lo  I  am  w^ith  you  always,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  world. ' ' 


Date  Due 

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iilSHOP     LIGHTFOOT  ON  THE  CHRIST^ 
MINISTRY.  / 

By  the  Right  Hon.  R.  R.  WARREr 
Joseph   Barber    Lightfoot,  Bisho^X 
-^nds  pre-eminent  in  the  lpn5[ii*^*'  ' 


^^^^tT^ 


